Two and a Half Years Later…..
It is now two and a half years since His Excellency Bishop Richard Williamson delivered his infamous conference in which he advised a lady that she may go to the Novus Ordo Mass given her circumstances. Till this day, His Excellency has refused to back down on his advice. Likewise, his defenders continue to refuse to acknowledge that His Excellency’s advice flies in the face of Archbishop Lefebvre’s Declaration of Fidelity to the Positions of the Society of St. Pius X in which it is clearly stated that the Novus Ordo Missae is in itself bad and consequently no priest of his may celebrate it or advise the faithful in a positive manner to take an active part in it. All seminarians since 1981 were required to sign this Declaration before receiving the subdiaconate.
The latest rant of one of Bishop Williamson’s avid supporters, Mr. Sean Johnson, continues the quest to demonstrate that Archbishop Lefebvre allowed for active Novus Ordo Mass attendance under certain circumstances:
“[On this latter point, it is worth recalling Archbishop Lefebvre’s May 9, 1980 comment in Michael Davies’ classic Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre (Vol. II, Ch. 40) positively endorsing Novus Ordo Mass attendance, stating that ‘Those who feel themselves obliged in conscience to assist at the New Mass on Sunday can fulfill their Sunday obligation’ here. I make the same observation regarding the quote the Pfeifferites (sic) pull from ‘Open Letter to Confused Catholics’ in one of the refutations above, in which the Archbishop makes his comments on grace specific to the sacrilegious and desecrated Masses he was there describing, not all Novus Ordo Masses.]”
Note that the comment quoted above was made in 1980, whereas the Declaration was required of seminarians since 1981. I have shown in “A Refutation of a Catechetical Refutation” that the Archbishop’s position hardened regarding active attendance at the Novus Ordo Mass to the point of the Declaration where active attendance would no longer be acceptable under any circumstances. An official declaration, furthermore, trumps comments made in an interview or conference. From 1981 until his death, the Archbishop did not change his position.
It is sad the Mr. Johnson refuses to correct his position and that he rather doubles down, triples down, quadruples down, etc. For Mr. Johnson, “ignorance” is a circumstance that permits one to actively attend the Novus Ordo Mass, while failing to point out that “ignorance” (and/or consent) is a subjective circumstance that is of no import in regards to determining the objective evilness of an act. Whether one is guilty of sin before God is a separate matter from whether the act itself is evil. Mr. Johnson, however, confounds these two. Furthermore, for Mr. Johnson, “extreme necessity” is a circumstance that permits one to actively attend the Novus Ordo Mass, while failing to demonstrate in Church doctrine where “extreme necessity” permits one to actively attend a schismatic Mass.
My friends, I have said this before on more than one occasion: we must reject the Novus Ordo Mass wholesale. It is not a work of the Roman Catholic Church. Rather, it is the work of the conciliar church, a new religion foreign to Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. One cannot claim to be faithful to Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop Lefebvre while at the same time holding that the Novus Ordo Mass may be actively attended under certain circumstances. No! We must affirm the following proposition:
Active attendance at the Novus Ordo Mass is an intrinsically evil act.
To deny this proposition is to renege on a core issue in the defence of Catholic Tradition. Let us therefore continue the fight for Catholic Tradition in 2018 as espoused by Archbishop Lefebvre and continue to pray for those, especially the bishops and priests of the false resistance, who either through commission or omission have steered off the Archbishop’s course.
