Lefebvrians want excommunication
lifted first before proceeding with 'dialog'
VATICAN CITY , July 1 (Translated from the French service of AFP) - The Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (SSPX) has asked the Vatican to lift the excommunications against four of its bishops to show its good faith to proceed with dialog, according to the French religious information service I.Media.
The agency says that the superior-general of the fraternity, Mons. Bernard Fellay, has written Pope Benedict XVI a reply to the conditions set by the Vatican for the organization's reintegration into the Roman Catholic Church.
I-Media cites an internal note of the Fraternity which says Mons. Fellay asked that the dialog 'be placed on a doctrinal level' and that it must avoid all 'haste'. He also underscores that "a prior revocation of the excommunication decrees of 1988 would create a favorable climate for such a dialog".
The information was made public 20 years to the day after John Paul II excommunicated Mons. Marcel Lefebvre and the four bishops that he ordained that day in violation of the Church's canonical regulations.
The excommunications sealed what the Vatican called a 'schismatic action' resulting from the rejection by the Lefebvrians of Vatican-II, particularly with regard to religious freedom and dialog with other faiths, as well as the liturgical reforms after the Council.
In its latest attempt in a long series of moves to overcome the schism, the Vatican recently proposed resumption of the dialog under five conditions, including an acknowledgment of the Pope's authority and a commitment to stop negative talk against the Roman Catholic Church. The five conditions made no explicit reference to Vatican-II.
"These conditions appear aimed at obtaining a climate favorable to further dialog rather than any precise commitments about specific points," says the SSPX note.
Abbé Alain Lorans, spokesman of the SSPX, reached by AFP on the telephone Friday, described the conditions posed by the Vatican as an 'ultimatum' and added that "The Fraternity has no intention of responding to it".
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How can the SSPX ask for having the excommunication decree lifted - a major canonical step, which means reversing the decision of a Pope - as their pre-condition for 'good faith' on the part of the Vatican, when they refuse even to make the simple commitment, "Yes, we will recognize the authority of the Pope" (who, after all, is the only authority who can lift the excommunication) and "Yes, we will stop talking against the Church" (which they obviously desire to remain part of, otherwise why would they set so much store by lifting the excommunication)?????
Ego is completely distorting their sense of proportion. Does it give them the illusion of grandeur that they, 1 million all told, are able to defy the Pope who represents all 1.2 billion Catholics????? This is being 'more Popish tnan the Pope' in the most preposterous way!
As to their absurd objections to the concepts of religious freedom and inter-religious dialog, a) Mons. Lefebvre as a member of Vatican-II signed all the Vatican-II documents; and b) Hindus and Buddhists and Jews were around centuries before Christ was born: did that ever stop Paul - and all those who came after him - from proclaiming the Gospel to those who would listen, and to recognize that not everyone will always necessarily accept Christianity? Why, all of a sudden, did the Lefebvrians 'wake up' in 1988 and realize that there are other religions in the world, that people have generally been free to profess what religion they please, and that people of various faiths have been talking to each other? Vatican-II did not invent any of that!
We need to invoke St. Paul's intercession for the Holy Spirit to descend on Econe!
P.S. Judging by their utter silence so far about the SSPX saga, it appears that neither Sandro Magister nor John Allen has any particular contacts about this issue, which is strange for them.
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Here is how an Italian news agency (translated here) reported the I-Media story later today - I am frustrated because I cannot track down the I-Media story itself online....
LEFEBVRIANS SAY:
WE REJECT THE ULTIMATUM
BUT WISH TO CONTINUE DIALOG
VATICAN CITY, July 1 (Translated from AGI) - The St. Pius X Fraternity does not wish to interrupt its negotiations with the Vatican for its re-entry into the Catholic church, but has refused the June 30 ultimatum metioned in the letter of Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos.
"We do not want agreements obtained in haste," explains the response sent by the superior of the society, Mons. Bernard Fellay, according to a report today by the French religion news agency I-Media.
The SSPX document cited by I-Media also criticizes the 'vague character' of the Vatican conditions (particularly, the offer of juridical autonomy for the society's dioceses in return for committing to stop criticizing the Pope and his Magisterium) and a certain 'media pressure' which has tended to emphasize the June 30 deadline given by Cardinal Castrillon for 'a positive response'.
According to Mons. Fellay (one of four bishops illegally ordained by the late Mons. Marcel Lefebvre 20 years ago on June 30, the five conditions proposed by the Holy See "seem aimed at obtaining a climate favorable to further dialog rather than representing any specific commitments 0n (disputed) points".
The SSPX then expresses the hope that "such a dialog may take place at the doctrinal level and take into account all the questions which, if threshed out, would render obsolete whatever is sought to be established in haste."
The response also underscores that "lifting the 1988 excommmunication decree would make the climate for such a dialog more favorable".
Insofar as the Vatican's proposed condition to 'avoid criticizing the Magisterium of the Holy Father and not to present the Fraternity in (doctrinal) opposition to the Church", the note asserts that the heirs of Mons. Lefebvre have "no claim whatsoever to exercising an alternative Magisterium to that of the Holy Father... (nor) do we want to oppose the Church". [Strange! What have they been doing all along then?]
This, emphasized I-Media, in order "to correct interpretations of the SSPX response" that have been spreading on the Internet and picked up in some newpapers, "is the sense of the response that Bishop Fellay gave to the ultimatum in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, June 26, 2008."
[The rest of the AGI story is background, but it is worthwhile to call attention once again to those 5 conditions stated by Cardinal Castrillon, to put this story in perspective:
Conditions resulting from the meeting on June 4, 2008, between Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos and Bishop Bernard Fellay:
1. Commitment to a response that is proportionate to the Pope's generosity.
2. Commitment to avoid every public statement that does not respect the person of the Holy Father and which may be negative in terms of ecclesial charity.
3. Commitment to avoid claiming a Magisterium superior to that of the Holy Father and not to propose the SSPX as an opposition to the Church.
4. Commitment to demonstrate goodwill to act honestly in full ecclesial charity and respecting the authority of the Vicar of Christ.
5. Commitment to respect the date- fixed for the end of June - for a positive response. This is a required and necessary condition as an immediate preparation for the agreement to have full communion.
Except for the cardinal's signature, and the date, that was the entire note typewritten on stationery of Ecclesia Dei.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 02/07/2008 01:37]