Vol 10 Issue 10 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
March 11, 2017 ~ Ember Saturday
1. Is the Chair of Peter Vacant? An Argument for Sedevacantism
2. Second Sunday in Lent
3. Saint Gregory the Great
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
March is dedicated to Saint Joseph, whose feast would normally fall on March 19, but is moved this year to Monday, March 20—recognizing the position of Saint Joseph while keeping the rank of the Lenten Liturgy that has the preparation, instruction and the baptism of Adults during the Paschal Vigil as of primary importance. As Saint Joseph is patron of the Universal Church and as the Church, attacked on all sides by her enemies, needs protection, Catholics turn to Saint Joseph and invoke his patronage knowing that God had chosen Saint Joseph to protect the Christ Child from the soldiers of Herod and those of evil will. May Catholics not forget Saint Joseph during this month and pray to him to ask His Divine Son and his most holy Spouse, Mary, to watch over and protect the Church today when evil forces are continuously seeking to end the Church—the only means of salvation. The faithful, knowing that they had to flee into the wilderness (figuratively), the time will come when Christ will return and the Church will be united in the heavenly Jerusalem to dwell in the eternal glory of God. Meanwhile, may Saint Joseph watch over all the Catholic communities who remain within the Body of Christ and have gathered around the Body of Christ given in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Below is included a Message of Jorge Bergoglio to Community Activists (i.e., revolutionary agitators a la Saul Alinsky). Notice there is not a hint of the salvation of souls, no pointing to Holy Mother Church being established to lead her children to heaven even as a footnote, no reference to Church doctrine—only a reference to Scripture that taken out of context. Omitting referencing Holy Mother Church setting Our Mother Mary as a model for all women, Bergoglio in fact, seems to take notice of no mother but “Mother Earth”. Saving the world is saving the planet, not the salvation of souls [cf. http://en.radiovaticana.va/
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor
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Is the Chair of Peter Vacant?
An Argument for Sedevacantism
by Rev. Courtney Edward Krier
3. The Church Possesses the Attributes of Authority, Infallibility and Indefectibility
To preserve the unity, sanctity, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church, the Church has been endowed with three attributes: Indefectibility, Infallibility and Authority. Since the Church has only one purpose for its existence, the salvation of souls, there must be the absolute assurance that the Church is capable of obtaining that end, being that it is a divine institution. It must have the authority to teach; but to teach someone to believe error which would cause that person to lose salvation would defeat her purpose—as would her inexistence at any moment within history.
a. What is the indefectibility of the Church? Our Lord, in founding the Church, announced to Peter: And I say to thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). He then, later, instructed His Apostles: Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world (Matt. 28: 20). The Church was to be the means of salvation, the new covenant (Matt. xxvi.26ff; Mark 14:22ff; Luke 22:19ff; 1 Cor. 11:25) until he comes(1 Cor. 11:26) in virtue of an everlasting covenant (Hebr. 13:20). This attribute of the Church which Christ founded is called indefectibility or perpetuity. The Indefectibility of the Church, therefore, is the doctrine that the Church, as Christ founded it, will last until His Second Coming. This is to be understood that the Universal Church, as a divine institution, cannot change its essential internal and external character and still remain the Church Christ founded. But these marks are addressed to the “mission of the Church”, or its raison d’ être. The Church was instituted by Christ to teach, to sanctify, and to govern. This is the “mission” of the Church, in order to bring all men to salvation: Now this is everlasting life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum of June 29, 1896, explains this point accordingly:
Therefore the Church is a society divine in its origin, supernatural in its end and in the means proximately adapted to the attainment of that end; but it is a human community inasmuch as it is composed of men. For this reason we find it called in Holy Scriptures by names indicating a perfect society. It is spoken of as the house of God, the city placed upon the mountain to which all nations must come. But it is also the fold presided over by one Shepherd, and into which all Christ’s sheep must commit themselves. Truly it is called the kingdom which God has raised up and which will stand forever. Finally it is the body of Christ–that is, of course, His mystical Body, but a body living and duly organized and composed of many members; members indeed which have not all the same functions, but which, united one to the other, are kept bound together by the guidance and authority of the head. (10)
Now these threefold commands, or “mission of the Church,” we find enjoined by Christ upon the Apostles in Sacred Scripture, where he says:
All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world (Matt. 28:18- 20).
To which the Vatican Council (1870) holds for our belief:
The eternal Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (cf. 1 Pet. ii. 25), in order to render the saving work of redemption lasting, decided to establish His holy Church that in it, as in the house of the living God, all the faithful might be held together by the bond of one faith and one love. For this reason, before he was glorified, he prayed to the Father, not for the apostles only, but for those also who would believe in him on their testimony, that all might be one as he, the Son, and the Father are one (cf. John 17: 20f). Therefore, just as he sent the apostles, whom he had chosen for himself out of the world, as he himself was sent by the Father (cf. John 20: 21), so also he wished shepherds and teachers to be in his Church until the consummation of the world (Matt. 28: 20). (cf. D 1825)
In considering the attribute of the Indefectibility of the Church, it is necessary that the Church, as the only means of salvation instituted by Christ, not only be present at all times and in all places, but also that she teach the immutable “truth” at all times and in all places, that she minister the same Sacraments at all times and in all places, and that her visibility expressed in her hierarchical structure be present at all times and in all places: “One Lord, one faith, one Baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and throughout all, and in us all” (Eph. iv.5-6). Pope Leo XIII expressed this adequately in his above mentioned Encyclical on the Unity of the Church:
But Christ’s mission is to save that which had perished; namely, not some nations or peoples, but the whole human race, without distinction of time or place. The Son of man came that the world might be saved through Him (John 3: 17). For there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). The Church, therefore, is bound to communicate without limit to all men, and to transmit through all ages, the salvation effected by Jesus Christ, and the blessing flowing there from. Therefore, by the will of its Founder, it is necessary that this Church should be one in all lands and at all times. To justify the existence of more than one Church it would be necessary to go outside in this world, and to create a new—and unheard of—race of men. (4)
It must constantly be stressed that it is the same teachings, the same sacraments, and the same
composition of government, be it in the early Church, in the Middle Ages, or in Modern times, the same doctrine was and is to be held which Christ, the Eternal Word, taught (or it ceases to be the one, holy catholic, and apostolic Church as expressed when writing of the Marks of the Church).
Ludwig Ott, in his Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, can sum up, therefore, the idea of indefectibility as follows:
In saying that the Church is indefectible we assert both her imperishableness, that is, her constant duration to the end of the world, and the essential immutability of her teaching, her constitution and her liturgy. This does not exclude the decay of individual churches and accidental changes (Bk. 4, Pt. 2, par. 12, p. 296).
Again, as the Church is a divine institution, she is assured that this divine assistance will be given her to fulfill her mission by her Head: I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever (John 14:16). It is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies which envisage an eternal bond between God and His People, referring to Christ and to His kingdom, the Church. Isaias foretells: His empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of peace: he shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom; to establish it and strengthen it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and forever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this(9:7; cf. 55:3 and Jer. 32:40). Daniel foresees the Church amidst the worldly kingdoms, which will pass away, but itself remaining: But in the days of those kingdoms the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, and his kingdom shall not be delivered up to another people, and it shall break in pieces, and shall consume all these kingdoms, and itself shall stand forever (2:44). Which prophecies saw their fulfillment in the words the Angel Gabriel exchanged with the Virgin Mary, at the Annunciation: And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he shall be king over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:32-33).
That the early Church accepted the indefectibility of the Church as such may be read in the extant writings of those Fathers of the Church who lived in this era. St. Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in the beginning of the second century, wrote: The Lord permitted myrrh to be poured on his head that He might breathe incorruption upon the Church(Ep. 17, 1). St. Irenaeus, an early apologist for the Church, affirms that the preaching of the Church, thanks to the efficacy of the Holy Ghost, is immutable and always remaining the same (Adv. haer. iii, 24, 1). St. Augustine draws the indefectibility of the Church from its foundation upon Christ: The Church will totter when her foundation totters. But how shall Christ totter? . . . as long as Christ does not totter, neither shall the Church totter in eternity (Enarr. in Ps. ciii, 2, 5; cf. Enarr. in Ps. 47, 7 et lx. 6).
And this same faith was taught at the Vatican Council (I) in its dogmatic constitution on Faith:
For all the many marvelous proofs that God has provided to make the credibility of the Christian faith evident point to the Catholic Church alone. Indeed, the Church itself, because of its marvelous propagation, its exalted sanctity, and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in all that is good, because of its Catholic unity and its unshaken stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an irrefutable proof of its own divine mission.
Consequently, the Church, like a standard lifted up for the nations (cf. Isa. 11:12), not only calls to herself those who have not yet believed, but also she proves to her own children that the faith they profess rests on a most solid foundation. To this testimony is added the efficacious help of the supernatural power. For the most merciful Lord stirs up and helps with His grace those who are wandering astray, so that they can “come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4); and, never abandoning anyone, unless He is abandoned, He strengthens with His grace those whom He has brought out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), so that they may remain in this light. Therefore, the position of those who have embraced the Catholic truth by the heavenly gift of faith and of those who have been misled by human opinions and follow a false religion is by no means the same, for the former, who have accepted the faith under the teaching authority of the Church, can never have any just reason for changing that faith or calling it into question. In view of all this, let us give thanks to God the Father, “who has made us worthy to share in the lot of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12), and let us not neglect so great a salvation, but “looking towards the author and finisher of faith, Jesus” (Hebr. 12: 2), “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” [(Hebr. 10:23); D 1794].
To those who would claim the Church has and can change, there has only been rejection on the side of the Magisterium of the Church. This is because she can only accept and transmit the truth. Pope Clement XI condemned this error of Paschal Quesnel in 1713:
Truths have descended to this, that they are, as it were, a foreign tongue to most Christians, and the manner of preaching them is, as it were, an unknown idiom, so remote is the manner of preaching from the simplicity of the apostles, and so much above the common grasp of the faithful; nor is there sufficient advertence to the fact that this defect is one of the greatest visible signs of the weakening of the Church and of the wrath of God on his sons –1 Cor. 14:21 (prop. 95; cf. D 1445).
And Pope Pius VI condemned this error of the Council of Pistoia in his Constitution Auctorem fidei of August 28, 1794: The proposition, which asserts “that in these later times there has been spread a general obscuring of the more important truths pertaining to religion, which are the basis of faith and of the moral teachings of Jesus Christ—heretical(cf. D 1501). This was against those who would say that the Church could obscure the more important truths pertaining to religion, which are the basis of faith and of the moral teachings of Jesus Christ, not those outside the Church.
The errors of the Modernists were already condemned by Pope St. Pius X on July 3, 1907, in the Decree Lamentabili where these concepts of the Modernists are exposed: The organic constitutions of the Church is not unchangeable; rather, the Christian society is just as subject to perpetual evolution as human society is (cf. D 2053). And, another concept prevalent among Modernists: Dogmas, sacraments, hierarchy—both their notion and their reality—are nothing but evolutions and interpretations of Christian thought which caused the tiny seed, hidden in the Gospel, to grow through external accretions and brought it to fruition(cf. D 2054).
With the above understanding of what the Church teaches regarding her indefectibility, can one say that the Church may change? Absolutely not! In her teachings of Faith and Morals, in her Liturgy and Sacraments, and in her Hierarchical structure she must be found the same. Is it possible for a Pope to change any of these? No. The Pope, as head of the Catholic Church, expresses what the universal Church believes, the Pope confirms the faith: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren (Luke 22:32) are the words Christ addressed to Peter. Thus the famous proverb: Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia (St. Ambrose, Enarr. in Ps. xl. 30). This is particularly expressed in the decisions of a Pope being determined infallible (Papal Infallibility) as also lawful Ecumenical Councils when the Pope determines them infallible. (Many decrees of Councils were wholly or partly rejected on this basis: e.g., Ephesus (II) in 449 and Constance in 1414.)
Referring again to Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical on Christian Unity, he instructs the Bishops and the Universal Church that:
Hence, from the very earliest times the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have been accustomed to follow and with one accord to defend this rule. Origen writes: “As often as the heretics allege the possession of the canonical Scriptures, to which all Christians give unanimous consent, they seem to say: `Behold the word of truth is in the houses.” But we should not believe them and not abandon the primary and ecclesiastical tradition. We should not believe other than as has been handed down by the tradition of the Church of God” (Vetus Interpretatio Commentariorum in Matt., n. 46). Irenaeus also says: “The doctrine of the apostles is the true faith . . . which is known to us through the episcopal succession . . . which has reached even to our age by the very fact that the Scriptures have been zealously guarded and fully interpreted” (Contra Haereses, l. 4, c. 33, n. 8). And Tertullian: “It is therefore clear that all doctrine which agrees with that of the apostolic churches—the matrices and original centers of the faith—must be looked upon as the truth, maintaining without hesitation that the Church received it from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God. . . We are in communion with the apostolic churches, and by the very fact that they agree among themselves we have a testimony of truth” (De Praescript., c. 31). And thus Hilary: “Christ teaching from the ship signifies that those who are outside the Church can never grasp the divine teaching; for the ship embodies the Church where the Word of life is deposited and preached. Those who are outside are like sterile and worthless sand: they cannot understand” (Comment. in Matt. 13, n. 1). Rufinus praises Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil because “they studied the text of Holy Scriptures alone, and took the interpretation of its meaning not from their own inner consciousness, but from the writings and on the authority of the ancients, who in their turn, as is clear, took their norm for understanding the meaning from the apostolic secession” (Hist. Eccl., l. 2, c. p. 9). (9)
What preserves this unity of faith, of liturgy, of the constitution of the Church? Her divine guidance of the Holy Ghost which allows the Church to be infallible in faith and morals.
(To be continued)
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The Ecclesiastical Year (1880)
INSTRUCTION ON THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.
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