SSPX, Filioque & Scandalous Life

TIA,

Regarding your series on the Dialogue Mass by Dr. Carol Byrne.

The biggest promoter of the Dialog Mass in the post-Vatican II period has been the SSPX founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. This Mass has been the norm in the French chapels of this Society for a very long time, and is now becoming commonplace in all the other countries where the SSPX operates.

It just does not make sense to me to hear a congregation mechanically responding in Latin at a Mass which Fr. Faber described as the greatest thing this side of heaven.

The Dialogue Mass has damaged the Mass!

     Yours faithfully,

     J.M.

TIA,

Under the heading "Eastern Rite" an entry on your site reads:

"One thing that bothers me is when they are saying the Nicene Creed they do not say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son only the Father. ... they cross out the Son in the book and don't say that part. ... we were invited to attend the Priest's 20th anniversary of his ordination. Is that ok to attend?

"TIA responds:

"Hello J.C.,

"We believe you may go to the anniversary of the priest's ordination without any problem of conscience."

OK, you answered that question.

But I was expecting a comment about the Nicene Creed issue. A Melkite church I've attended does the same as your correspondent describes. I spoke to the pastor about it and he acknowledged it was improper - but nothing changed. But several Ukrainian churches that I've attended do include the filioque clause.

How can these supposed Uniate churches continue to say the Creed as if they were Orthodox?

     Peter Reilley


TIA responds:

Mr. Peter Reilley,

We agree with you that those Catholic Rites should introduce the Filioque in their Creed.

The problem, however, is that each of these Eastern Rites has a different history of conversion to the Catholic Church. When they converted, they signed accords with Rome establishing what should remain and what should change in their liturgies. So, it is probable that those that kept the Creed without the Filioque have the approval by Rome for those formulae.

In these cases, a pastor, a Bishop, an Eparch or even a Patriarch of these Rites would not have the authority to change those formulae. For this to happen and make the Creed fit more with Catholic doctrine, a whole process of reform of liturgy monitored by the Vatican would be necessary.

However, if the present day Vatican were to have the chance to reform those Eastern Rites, it would not be concerned about introducing the Filioque to correspond to the doctrine of the Nicaea Creed, as you and we desire; rather it would take advantage of the reform to introduce all the progressivist doctrines of Vatican II into those liturgies.

So, in our opinion, the wisest thing to do is to be quiet, go to those Masses as they are, albeit imperfect, to fulfill your obligations and benefit from the Sacraments. Demands made on this topic will probably have no effect, and, if they were to have, they could backfire and make your Eastern Rite Mass more like the Novus Ordo. In this case you would lose the Mass you already have.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

TIA,

Very strong post- The Audacity of the Changes Introduced in the Church.

Thank you.

Sin is so dangerous to the eternal welfare of souls that it cries out to Heaven for vengeance.

Once, 42 years ago, I met a young woman who had an illegitimate child.

"Miss X, why didn't you murder/'abort' your son?:

"I was AFRAID! God would turn his Face from me!"

She saw no pictures, read no books on abortion, had not seen any advertising against it, talked to no one about it... she had Traditional Catholic Truth’s simple teaching within, a properly formed (instructed) mind, grace, and it saved her son! and her! She feared God's vengeance. So do I.

     E.K.

Dear Dr. Horvat,

I was just wondering if you knew if anyone who was interested in digging deeper into the Sister Lucy mystery had ever questioned any of her living relatives or fellow nuns. I would love to know if they had ever noticed a "change" in Sister Lucy or if their older relatives had ever mentioned anything. If I lived in that area and spoke the language I would be searching for people who must have noticed something...

     Thank you,

     R.D.


Dr. Horvat responds:

Dear R.D.,

The question of living relatives was addressed in this article, n. 1. One must remember there was a period of 30 years when Sister Lucy disappeared from the scene, and even family members did not see her. When she re-surfaced, these 'little people' were not likely to contest the Church Hierarchy, held in esteem by the Portuguese peasants.

Besides, family life in Portugal is not the same as it is in the U.S. Here, close relatives always visit one another. There, this does not happen often, among the little people to which Lucia's family belonged. For example, when I was in Fatima visiting some 15 years ago, I met two of her cousins. Neither had ever been to visit Sister Lucia in Coimbra, which they considered to be "too far away," although Coimbra is only 42 miles distant from Fatima. You see that the mentalities are different.

     Cordially,

     Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.

TIA,

Pax,

Re: Hope for Catholics Living Scandalous Lives

Being a child of the ‘60s, when it came to being reunited to Holy Mother the Church, I was living in an adulterous relationship. My journey back to the Sacraments was relatively easy, so to speak, since my first 'marriage' was truly a travesty where I became convinced that no sacramental bond ever took place because of the contempt both my 'husband' and I had at that time for the bonds of matrimony. We simply got married to appease the family since living together would have been the scandal at that point in time. My future brother-in-law even came forward and told the priest about it. The priest did nothing. We had one son during that union.

The man I was with was also divorced. We became "husband and wife" through a Protestant ceremony. His first marriage arose through a pregnancy in which the father, literally, showed up at his door with a shot gun upon hearing the news of his daughter's pregnancy.

So, in good conscience, I applied for an annulment on both marriages. During the time of waiting, I went to Mass and did spiritual Communions and prayed my daily Rosary since both children from our respective marriages were living with us and we had our own child. So, to disrupt the family was unthinkable. So was abstinence.

My husband died suddenly before the annulments were granted. So, the morning after his death, I called the rectory to have my Confession heard and went to Communion for the first time in over 25 years.

As a result, I am convinced that if anyone's life is made complicated through sin, they should continue going to Mass, persist in praying the Rosary, making good Acts of Contrition, doing frequent Spiritual Communions beseeching Our Lord to make the way smooth to return in full sacramental union with the Church.

Don't give up, He wills your salvation. ...

     A.T.