Dear Tradition in Action,

I recently read Dr. Horvat's book review on Trianon. The review compelled me to purchase the book.

The book exposes the French Revolution in all its ugliness and contrasts Catholic France with the hideous secular France that the revolution established and which has become the foundation for modern society. The ideas of the French Revolution have almost completely engulfed the modern world, which makes the book so relevant for today. I recommend the book, truly one of the most beautiful and relevant books I have ever read!

I signed the Remnant Petition in support of Benedict XVI. I did so in a moment of false enthusiasm and hope. I sincerely regret signing it now. As you so rightly point out, Pope Benedict needs our prayers, but not a ridiculous endorsement of his entire papacy as the petition implicitly gives.

The example of Louis XVI and his family has helped renew my courage to continue the fight for the counter-revolutionary cause and the triumph of the Immaculate Heart.

      A.K.

TIA,

Could you please advice as to the present state of Fr. Meramo?

Does he have followers who will support him?

If not, where can he be contacted? SSPX members cannot abandon their good priests. We have to help them in whatever way we can.

      Blessings,

      M.B., Australia



TIA responds:

M.B.,

Tomorrow we are planning to post on our website the latest letter by Fr. Merano of April 9, describing his expulsion on April 7. Reading it, you will find some of the answers to your questions.

You may contact him at his own website here.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

Dear Mr. Guimaraes,

I cannot thank you enough for your latest piece, Awakening From A False Obedience. It is very good to know that we have trustworthy sources like Tradition in Action to watch over the shoulders of us individuals involved with the SSPX to varying degrees.

And to those who would dare tell you to "mind your own business" because you are not an SSPX "member," I would say that the "SSPX problem" is a "CATHOLIC" problem affecting OUR Church and OUR Faith. The SSPX does not have exclusive rights to dealing with the crisis in the Catholic Church, inasmuch as some of its members might actually arrogate to themselves such a lofty, self-appointed role of "hero" to save the day and the Church.

It's Catholics just like yourself who will pick up where institutions begin to outgrow their usefulness and purpose. God will withdraw His grace when the fig tree no longer produces. One has only to see the crash-and-burn effect of the once-mighty Jesuit Order -and its Founder even had a vision of the Holy Trinity during his lifetime! Not even Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, in all his courage and saintly service, could claim such an honor.

My point: if the SSPX cannot produce, it would do well to move out of the way! There are other Catholics only too willing to take this fight to the finish!

     Respectfully,

     S.K.

TIA,

First of all, thank you all for keeping us abreast of developments within the SSPX.

I am watching your site because you seem to be the only one paying any attention to this tsunami, you know, where are the Traditional SSPX parishioners to go for Mass, etc., if the Society capitulates!!?? - does anyone care? Well, they better, because the SSPX fills a lot of places with TRC chapels and churches and if they go under, where are you going to go for Mass, confession!!???

This reminds me so much of what happened with Vatican II - no one rebelled, sought out facts (the changes were never approved). They just sat there like sheep and let it all happen year after tragic year.

I moved to TN because there was an SSPX chapel there before this all came down as I had just recently retired & returned to the One True Faith from the Novus Ordo Church.

When I called the Chapel contact person - there is no information forthcoming other than vague comments in favor of Bishop Fellay in that "whatever" he seems to be doing is good and don't worry.

I do worry profoundly!

Once again, if there is anything out there that you can find and post concerning this new info, current situation re Fr. Meramo and what this may mean, etc. it would be very welcome.

     In the Sacred Heart of Jesus,

     C. W.

Tradition in Action,

I have just read the comments of a few lay people who are getting cold feet with regards to attending Mass at the SSPX Chapels. How sad it is to see people who are jumping to conclusions before anything is settled concerning the approach to Rome.

Bishop Fellay is a very intelligent individual and certainly is aware of the problems within the Conciliar Church. He is also aware that Rome would like to convert them whereas the Society has the intention of converting Rome.

The Society [SSPX] will continue to work independently as they do now and not under any diocese, which would be a disaster considering the state of things today. I am not going to panic, and abandon the Society because I am so grateful these priests gave us a place of refuge during these confusing times.

Of course there will always be a few priests within the Society who will disagree, it is only human, but they do no one any good to publicly print articles on their own authority that has a tendency to confuse and upset lay people. In my opinion, there is a long road ahead for the SSPX Bishops to discuss theological issues within the Vatican, before anything permanent will happen.

So my advice is to not panic, support the Society, and be careful what you read on the internet....where the devil has free reign.

     A.M., Canada

Dear Tradition in Action,

I just wanted to share with you some of my reflections on Fr. Míramo's open letter.

Certainly one of the conundrums that has faced priests in the SSPX is the demand for unquestioning adherence to all the theological positions of the SSPX combined with the inconvenient fact that nowhere can you actually find a complete dossier of all the SSPX's "official" theological positions. There is no single monolithic SSPX. There's only a Common-Law-type oral tradition whose ultimate rule of faith appears to be Archbishop Lefebvre himself. So Fr. Miramo himself resorts to quoting the more sedevacantist-sounding utterances of the Archibishop against Bishop Fellay.

I actually do not have a problem with making a distinction between the "decree" of excommunication and the excommunication itself vis-a-vis its inherent validity. I do agree with the rest of Father's points with regard to merging the SSPX into the Roman ecumenical pantheon.

So, the SSPX appears to be engaging in the very same type of ecumenical dialogue with the Vatican that the SSPX has always rejected and that forms one of the fundamental rationales for the resistance itself.

Here's the problem with the false ecumenical exercises: they invariably result in joint formulas which are held in equivocal senses by the various parties signing on to them. So you have Pope Benedict stating that SSPX has to accept V2 and the SSPX saying we accept V2 "in the light of Tradition".

Benedict accepted that qualification, as did John Paul II before him (who answered to it with something akin to "but of course"), yet the Popes mean by it that you must accept V2 because it IS in conformity with Tradition while the SSPX understand by this language that the SSPX can reject certain V2 formulae because they contradict Tradition. So coming up with a joint formula that's understood equivocally by the two parties is nothing short of meaningless and represents the same hollow disingenuous ecumenical tripe that has been going on for decades now with the Vatican.

I am convinced that ALL the problematic doctrine of Vatican II reduces ultimately to the erosion of a single dogma, that of Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (EENS), that there's no salvation outside the Church. Ratzinger (can't remember if he was a Father or a Cardinal already at the time) pointed this out as well. If you have a loose interpretation of EENS, then the theology of Vatican II flows logically from it. If I accepted that loose interpretation, I would accept all of V2 in principle.

Archbishop Lefebvre himself famously stated that people can be saved IN their false religions but not BY them. But according to the dogma of No Salvation Outside the Church, these people - whether they're animists, Jews, Muslims, or Protestants - must be somehow part of the Church (if they're being saved). So that sets up the entire new V2 "Anonymous Christian" ecclesiology.

You therefore have people who are united to the Church actually in the Church, to varying degrees. That sets up the whole partial communion, degrees of belonging to the Church, True Church "subsists" in the Catholic Church ecclesiology. So these are now truly separated brethren.

And if the criteria for salvation are now subjective -- and we know that people have a right to save their souls according to the criteria established by God -- then people unquestionably have a God-given right to follow their consciences and save their souls -- ergo, Religious Liberty.

But the SSPX accepts this loose definition of EENS and kicks people out for doing otherwise. Sedevacantsts are even more rigorous on this issue. I knew of a sede priest who refused last Sacraments to a "Feeney-ite". Although, unlike most people who approach this subject, I can make a logical distinction between the Water-Baptism question and the broader question of salvation. That dogma of EENS is the crux of the doctrinal problems posed by V2.

So then the issues with V2 become liturgical (even some V2 prelates admit that the Novus Ordo Missae does not conform to the V2 decrees on the Sacred Liturgy) and the scandalous extreme acts of communicatio in sacris by some the V2 popes. In other words, there's no longer any doctrinal divide; it evaporates.

     God bless you,

     L.S.

"Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the True Church of Jesus Christ."

These words are by St. Athanasius, Church Father, Church Doctor and one of the Four Great Eastern Fathers, exiled five times, excommunicated once, the scourge of the Arian heretics (97% of 4th century 'Catholic' bishops), "The Father of Orthodoxy," the first officially raised 'Doctor' of Holy Mother Church, a miracle-authenticated Saint.

      M.S.

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 Awakening from a False Obedience

 Fellay's Decision to Merge Confronted by Intellectual Priest

 A Bold Show of Dissatisfaction in the SSPX Ranks

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 China's Underground Church: Dismay over Vatican Betrayal

 Rumblings from the SSPX Pews

 Traditionalist Marriage with the Vatican

 SSPX Acceptance of Vatican II