The Society of St. Pius X and Antisemitism
Anticipating objections, the SSPX Superior in America issued this press release:
During a 2-hour conference given in Ontario, Canada on December 28th, 2012, Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society St. Pius X, commented on the relations between the Holy See and the SSPX during the last two years.
During the conference Bishop Fellay stated “Who, during that time, was the most opposed that the Church would recognize the Society? The enemies of the Church. The Jews, the Masons, the Modernists…”
The word “enemies” used here by Bishop Fellay is of course a religious concept and refers to any group or religious sect which opposes the mission of the Catholic Church and her efforts to fulfill it: the salvation of souls.This religious context is based upon the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in the Holy Gospels: “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth.” (Matthew 12:30)
By referring to the Jews, Bishop Fellay’s comment was aimed at the leaders of Jewish organizations, and not the Jewish people, as is being implied by journalists.
Accordingly the Society of St. Pius X denounces the repeated false accusations of anti-Semitism or hate speech made in an attempt to silence its message.
Because of my thirty years in the SSPX before leaving in 2008, I knew this denial of the organization’s antisemitic world-view was patently misleading. I resisted writing a response. In the middle of the night my husband’s radio, like Marley’s Ghost, clanked its own recrimination – an interview of journalist Tuvia Tenenbom by talk-show host John Batchelor about the book I Sleep in Hitler’s Room: An Amerian Jew Visits Germany.
Reviewed at PJ Media by Bruce Bawer and National Review Online by Jack Fowler, Tenenbom’s chronicle of his six-month assignment in Germany deeply disturbs. Expecting to enjoy the company of enlightened, successful, and pacifist natives, the author was horrified to discover that antisemitsm is a nearly ubiquitous, barely concealed focal point of contemporary social perspective in Germany.
Hearing the extent to which Nazi ideology still thrives in Germany shocked me. It shouldn’t have. I understand how and why people accept the tenets of antisemitism and that letting go of it is not primarily the work of logic and reason, but rather of correcting the emotional imbalances that are “filled” by this hateful doctrine.
If I substitute “communists” for Jews, and the tenor of the entire article makes more historical sense to me.
What you are writing about is a long-running discussion between two groups that should have the names of real people, rather than groups, associated with it: a rigorous historical inquiry where the names of people are pinned to published articles, might be illuminating.
Many, many political writers who identify themselves as Jewish have enthusiastically embraced both socialism and communism as a source of ideals for organizing society. This makes sense to me, because both socialism and communism purport to provide a way to obey the commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is a strain of Catholicism, not to mention entire societies of priests, nuns, and monks, that have done this, as well. I know this because I have sat in church and heard it.
The problem with both of these political philosophies is not in their purported ideals, but in their spectacular and appalling failure to bring about the results they claim to support.
To me, this is an internecine squabble, because both sides (in the article, the SSPX and some other writers in opposition) are very much aligned with respect to their goals, but they’ve gotten wrapped up in their disagreement over means to accomplish that end, and over the years, they’ve gotten into the habit of using shorthand that drops crucial information an outsider would need to understand the context. Unless and until we know what words SSPX is reacting to, we don’t know what is bothering them.
Using inaccurate group-name shorthand to describe political philosophy is a bad habit, one that obscures important parts of a public discussion, and leads to both prejudice and bad decision-making.
So it’s OK then because some Communists have been Jews. Oh I get it now. I think I heard this line before.
It really isn’t fair to disparage Nazis or the movement as a whole, only individual Nazis who after all were in some sort of “long running discussion” or “dispute” and used your same argument about Jews and Communism.
This organization is infected with the same rotting disease. It is well known and documented. Jeanette lived it herself for many years. She spells it all out here. Nobody has to join a hate group Valerie and that is what we are talking about. You don’t get a pass because you also love kittens and help at the soup kitchen.
Your reply is appreciated. Greatly. I find it hard to believe that anyone cannot see the fatuousness and ignorance of trying to substitute “Communist” for “Jew” in SSPX’s moral logic. It simply doesn’t work, and here’s why: as much as extremist groups like SSPX loathe Communism, they’re hatred of the Jews has its own individual shape and size– they hold the Jews responsible for the murder of Jesus Christ. (Never mind, of course, that Christ’s death was prophesied by himself, but it seems pointless to try and argue such elementary points with the thelogical geniuses of the Catholic far-right.) The portrayal of the Pharisees as snarling blood thirsty trolls in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” is a superb (if grotesque) illustration of SSPX’s view on the role of Jews in the crucifixion.
Consider also that SSPX denies that the Holocaust even happened, let alone that it was bad or morally regrettable. Taken in tandem with their charge against the Jews for murdering Christ, Christopher Hitchens summed up SSPX’s antisemetism thus: “Genocide no, deicide yes.” This perfectly captures the moral depravity and vicious bigotry of SSPX.
Aren’t these the nice people the Gibson’s have been involved with?
Anyway, It Could Never Happen Here right? Of course not.
Just in case:http://jpfo.org/
In Hungary, having solved the Jewish problem with some help a number of years ago, there are now open calls for genocide against that other pesky problem – the Roma Gypsies. From Walter Russel Meade’s blog quoted from a major Hungarian newsaper with nary a hint of protest from government or anyone:
““A significant part of the Roma are unfit for coexistence. They are not fit to live among people. These Roma are animals, and they behave like animals. When they meet with resistance, they commit murder. They are incapable of human communication. Inarticulate sounds pour out of their bestial skulls. At the same time, these Gypsies understand how to exploit the ‘achievements’ of the idiotic Western world. But one must retaliate rather than tolerate. These animals shouldn’t be allowed to exist. In no way. That needs to be solved — immediately and regardless of the method.”
On the other hand at least they are egalitarian about it, with one of the lowest birth rates and highest suicide rates in the world the Hungarians may actually hate themselves as much as anyone else.
I heartily endorse JPFO.
By the way…speaking of Catholic clerico-fascists, here’s the worst of the bunch:
Documentary: Death camps in Nazi Croatia
Going by memory from many years ago Pius X was criticized after the war for never speaking out against the Nazi treatment of Jews during the war.
And a book, for which I am unable to say how factual, entitled “Aftermath” by Ladislaw Frarago said that many Nazi’s were able to able to flee to South America with Vatican diplomatic passports; reason, they were seen as anti-communist.
If anyone can contribute any substantives yea or nay to this I’d be happy to find out about them.
I believe the pope you are referring to is Pius XII. Pius X’s reign ended in 1914, and he was a noted foe of modernism before he died.
In any case, Pius XII has had a lot of scrutiny over what he did, or did not do, during the Holocaust. Here’s one of the latest articles about him, with some reference to earlier critical works about the pope.
http://moynihanreport.itvworking.com/contributer/545
The papacy was complicit in the activities of the Croatian Nazis.
The coverup still continues.
Cardinal Stepinac: A cold-blooded killer being fast-tracked to Roman Catholic “sainthood”
Croatian Nazis – The Worst Monsters The World Had Known – Still Persist
No link to an essay about how Srebrenica “had it coming”? You’re slipping, dude.
Let me rewrite your post for accuracy:
People belonging to or influenced by an organization called Comunist Party are questionning Pius XII
That organization happens to be the foreign arm of a country who deported to Germany those German Jews who had fled to Soviet Union and was Hitler’s most faithful and reliable ally: during the war against Poland the German Army came close to running out of ammo and things could have gone very ugly for Germany, specially with the Western Front virtually undefended, without Soviet Union’s backstab of Poland.
The Communist Party itself did its best to undermine French Army’s morale and perpertated acts of sabotage on French tanks and planes, it organized strikes in American factories working for Lend Lease and supported isolationism until June 21st 1941 included. After the war the very same people who had done their utmost to help Hitler began accusing others and specially the Catholic Church of not having done enough to save Jews.
Now, some points. Puis XII was not on the moon or even in Washington but in the Vatican. The Vatican is in Rome and Rome is in Italy you know? The Vatican’s “Army” numbers less than one hundred and could be overrun in minutes. Also Radio Vatican’s transmitter was of limited potency and was easy to jam. Furthermore, in case you don’t know, there are no power plants in the Vatican. Its power (and Radio Vatican’s) came from power plants who were in italian, and later in German, hands.
Going to a frontal clash against Hitler and Mussolini was not the smartest thing to do if you wanted to save Jews. Hoowever, after the war the World Jewish Congress and Golda Meir paid hommage to Pius XII, action for saving Jews and it happens I trust them far more than the fellow travelers of people like Noam Chomsky or Oliver Stone.
Pius XII is believed to have save 860,000 Jews during WWII and smuggled at least 10,000 out of Italy to the U.S. using forged documents.
Israel Zolli, the chief Rabbi of Rome from 1939 to 1945 was a rather serious admire of Piux XII. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Zolli
The slanders against Pius XII are by the usual cabal of leftist God-haters. Scratch the surface and you’ll find most of them hate Israel as well.
Thank you for being courageous enough to write and publish this article. I was absolutely scandalized when I saw this in the Herald. Bishop Fellay’s remarks have not received the denunciation that I expected from Catholic bloggers and media outlets. I appreciate your insights.
Religion is flawed because man is flawed.
I guess that’s one of the reasons James recomemnded that religion be kept simple. James 1:27
“The greatest obstacle is having to recognize that years of one’s life may have been “wasted” in a group that embraces a racism incompatible with authentic Christianity.”
I noticed that theme in the “other cult” too, the idea that all that time was wasted (especially in a group that has pride-based recruitment, where it was emphasized that members are responsible for other people’s souls/”if you don’t give your all, souls will be lost due to your selfishness” kind of thing). But it’s important to remember that what God really wants from us is to spend the eternity with Him in heaven. We get there by having lots and lots of humility and repentance, not super-duper cool accomplishments, and He is patient enough that if it takes 15 years in a cult for us to get the desired amount of humility, then that’s what it takes. Yes, works are important, but so is humility.
Jeannette, you should know it better. The relationship between Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, and Jewry is more complex than you suggest, and has a history. In the 19th century, the Jewish people came out of the ghettos and emanzipated. It included a reform of their religion. In France, the Jewish people politically joined the revolutionary side of the society, whilst the Catholics opposed it; for good reasons after the persecution they had to suffer. Hence there was a politically – not religiously – induced conflict, which lead into the Dreyfuss-affair and the anti-Catholic laicite-law of 1903. In other parts of Europe things went different, for instance in Austria, where the Jewish community were loyal to the monarchy, whilst the other ethnic groups practised nationalism. In Germany, both Catholics and Jews were (softly) discriminated by the Protestant elite, and thus there was no conflict between the both.
After the catastrophe of the Second World War and the mass murder of Jewish people by the anti-Christian Nazis, it became clear that ressentments against Jews are dangerous. More, the political landscape started to change, since Jewish communities went to the right (as you can see in American election results) and the Left became anti-Israel. Today, the lobbyists for Israel are conservative Christians, like CUFI – or yourself. Anti-Semitism is now a problem of many left-wing groups, that fight both market economy and Israel with anti-Jewish sterotypes. In contrary, the political gap between Christian and Jewish politics has closed.
I agree that there are some people within the SSPX who are not aware of this political change yet. But it is simply wrong to blame the largest group of traditional Catholicism of anti-Semitism. You can´t reduce a movement like the SSPX of the political views of some of its followers. To blame Bishop Fellay is completely nonsense and a grave unjust. He gave a two-hours-speech, spoke free, he isn´t an English native speaker, and he talked about the external groups that influenced Vatican II in the early 1960s. In the past, he has so often taken a clear stand against anti-Semitism, that his good reputation is unquestionable – and unquestioned by all who are fair and don´t try to fight the SSPX. Only Catholic newspapers have attacked him, not because of their serious concerns on anti-Semitism, but for inner-Church reasons. I don´t know any serious journalist who misunderstood his words in the sense you suggest here.
Jeannette, you youself write about your years as a nun and the costs one has when leaving and beginning another life. I heard some stories about you when you were a teacher in St. Marys. You was very strict, even for St. Marys standards, wasn´t you? Changing the life as you did is not only costly. Such a turn also brings some temptations. The biggest tempation is self-justification: to justify the costs, one is painting the past in darkest colours.
The SSPX is neither a cult nor is it anti-Semite. It is simply a Catholic movement that wants to protect itself from the desorientation and destruction the “mainstream Church” is faced to. In France, the average age of the “mainstream”-clergy is 70, with 50% of priests older than 75 years. Christianity dies. By now, the SSPX accounts for about 20% of the newly ordained Catholic priests, plus those who come out of comparable groups like the FSSP or Christ the King. You can´t write about the SSPX without mention the state of the Church and this development.
Aren´t there problems and deficits within the SSPX? Of course, there are. And of course, mistakes were made. Bishop Williamson had better get stopped long before 2009, for instance. But you can´t judge the whole movement only by such mistakes, and you have to take into consideration the effords made since then. Bishop Williamson is not longer a member; outcasted he was already long before. Today´s SSPX does not accept anti-Semitism and takes a clear stand against the abuse of its religios mission for political extremism. This is one of the merits of Bishop Fellay. To blame him is ridiculous – and tells me more about you and your problems in self-justification than about the SSPX.
I’d like to believe that Bishop Fellay is not promoting Antisemitism. Still, his recent comments calling Jews “the enemies of the Church” can not carry but to that belief. The statement which the SSPX USA issued were more puzzling and complicated the whole situation.
Further, I can find no statement from the SSPX which states that Bishop Williamson was dismissed from the SSPX for his Antisemitism.
Personal attacks on the author do not change this facts.
SSPX is Sedevecantist, meaning that they don’t recognize the legitimacy of the papal elections at least since Paul VI.
The only similarity between SSPX and the FSSP is that they both celebrate the Mass in Latin. The FSSP was established by John Paul II, and remains in union with the Pope and the Magisterium. The SSPX denies the papacy of JPII and Benedict XVI.
Excellent Reply…Thank you very much Dr. Maximilian Krah. I am in St. Marys and attend the SSPX Chapel. On the whole I see the SSPX as very blessed in its efforts to assist Our Lord in saving souls in an expanding pagan state. There are all manner of political positions among the laypeople and clerics here as well…there are no thought police here…nor is there any single monolithic political point of veiw. To call the SSPX anti-semetic is simply not true. Sophie Scholl would not agree that the pre Vatican II church was so…nor would any of the White Rose…nor would have Bishop Clement Von Gallen.
Why is Jeanette always whining about the SSPX when she’s writing for a pro-homosexual ‘conservative’ (ha) paper? You a Catholic or not?
Or website, rather…
Website, rather, not sure why I said paper. This site is about as bad as most newspapers…
Readers of PJ Media should know that Dr. Maximilian Krah has been and may still be an attorney for the Society of Saint Pius X.
It should be known that Dr. Maximilian Krah is an attorney that has represented the Society of Saint Pius X.
I would appreciate it if it were made clear to your readers that the Vatican has a lot of problems with the SSPX, itself. I fear that your readers may think that their views are in someway representative. There is quite enough division in this country as it is.
Benedict has refused to grant SSPX bishops the right to reject some of the Council’s teachings, such as its historic reconciliation with Judaism and other faiths.
“The Vatican on Friday told an ultra-traditionalist Roman Catholic splinter group they must accept non-negotiable doctrinal principles within a month or risk a painful break with Rome that would have “incalculable” consequences…
The ultimatum was issued after a two-hour meeting between Swiss-born Bishop Bernard Fellay, leader of the dissident Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and U.S. Cardinal William Levada, head of the Vatican’s doctrinal department.”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/03/vatican-issues-ultimatum-to-sspx/
” We are conscious today that many centuries of blindness have cloaked our eyes so that we can no longer see the beauty of Thy chosen people, nor recognize in their faces the features of our privileged brethren. We realize that the mark of Cain stands on our foreheads. Across the centuries our Brother Abel has lain in blood which we drew or shed tears we caused forgetting Thy love. Forgive us for the curse we falsely attached to their name as Jews. Forgive us for crucifying Thee a second time in their flesh. For we knew no what we did…”
Pope John XIII
Unfortunately normative Catholicism has a record of genocide against Jews unsurpassed even by Islam.
Bat Yeor says people who say that are Ashkhenazes. Catholoc Bishops protected or tried to protect, at the peril of their lives Jews during medieval pograms. During the Reconquista before a battler he couldn’t afford to lose the Castlian King preferred to deprive himself of a quarter of his army (formed by people coming from Germany and France) better than letting them perpetrate crimes against his Jewish vassals. Try to find a similar behavior in Islam.
There have been exceptions in both Islam and Catholicism of individuals acting with honor and courage. Unfortunately they represent a very small minority. If you could be specific in your reference from Bat Yeor I would appreciate it. Which book, which page? Thanks.
Menachem Ben Yakov, have you considered the possibility that you might be just as bigoted and dangerous to Western Civilization as the antisemites on the other side?
Jews have made many positive contributions to Wesstern Civilization, but their behavior has not always been so good. Jews aren’t passive victims as you like to pretend. For instance, look at the leaders of the Communits Revolution in Russia, they were mostly Jews. The damage they did to Russia is unimaginable, approaching genocide.
We would all be better off if Jews and Gentiles alike learned to forgive each other and work together for a better world.
The difference is clear – the Jews you described were rebelling against Jewish doctrine while the Catholics I described were obeying Catholic doctrine.
I doubt that Catholics who burn the episcopal place and force their bishop to flee for his life are following episcopal doctrine. Also you told me there were examples of similar behaviour in Islam, I challenge you to find one>/b> example. One example in which muslims risked their lives or defeat to oppose a pogrom.
Also 1) in case you don’t know Russia was not Catholic
2) There is a very strong (close to 1) negative correlation between Catholicism and Nazi vote in Germany. At district level, even when the region was Protestant, if the district was Catholic the Nazi Party got far less votes than in neighbouring Protestant districts with a probability of over 90%. In other words it was the German Protestants and Atheists who voted for Hitler not the Catholics.
Alos what proves us you are a Jew and not a Troll or a Leftist? Frankly everything I seen of what you write makes me think so.
Trust me, he is. He’s a racial supremacist who believes the Japanese were killed in the tsunami because they weren’t righteous, and Americans who were killed by tornadoes too.
Nuts.
For JFM -
” I challenge you to find one>/b> example. One example in which muslims risked their lives or defeat to oppose a pogrom.”
Hebron 1929
” The riots began in earnest, however, on the morning of Saturday, August 24. Arabs killed 64 to 67 Jews in Hebron and wounded many others. Babies were beheaded. Old rabbis were castrated. There were incidents of rape, torture and mutilation. Hands and fingers were torn off bodies, apparently for jewelry.
Cafferata and the Jewish policeman shot at the rioters and killed 8 of them. The Arab policemen fired in the air. Cafferata called for reinforcements, but these arrived only about noon, five hours later. The British had a total of 292 police in Palestine and were busy dealing with disturbances elsewhere presumably. Cafferata, not a friend of the Jews, testified:
“On hearing screams in a room I went up a sort of tunnel passage and saw an Arab in the act of cutting off a child’s head with a sword. He had already hit him and was having another cut, but on seeing me he tried to aim the stroke at me, but missed; he was practically on the muzzle of my rifle. I shot him low in the groin. Behind him was a Jewish woman smothered in blood with a man I recognized as a[n Arab] police constable named Issa Sherif from Jaffa in mufti. He was standing over the woman with a dagger in his hand. He saw me and bolted into a room close by and tried to shut me out-shouting in Arabic, “Your Honor, I am a policeman.” … I got into the room and shot him.”
(Bernard Wasserstein, The British in Palestine: The Mandatory Government and the Arab-Jewish Conflict 1917-1929, Oxford England, Basil Blackwell, 1991)
About 435 Jews survived by hiding with their Arab neighbors. They were hidden by 28 families who risked their lives to save the Jews. ”
http://www.zionism-israel.com/Hebron_Massacre1929.htm
” Trust me…”
The first words out of the mouth of every charlatan.
” He’s a racial supremacist who believes the Japanese were killed in the tsunami because they weren’t righteous, and Americans who were killed by tornadoes too. ”
I will respond not for the benefit of convincing the person who wrote such nonsense but so others will not be ensnared in his falsehood.
Racial supremacy in antithetical to Judaism. Jews come from every race and every color. Additionally Jews believe all life is sacred and all religions that lead to good deeds are valid and legitimate forms of worship.
The idea that NATIONS are punished because they oppress the Jews is nothing new. It is not something I celebrate, it is simply recognition of fact. Does not the christian bible itself proclaim this? It does indeed.
Nice try Menachem Ben Jakov, your link says they were Arabs it doesn’t say they were Muclims. There were a lot of Christian Arabs in what was called Palestine. Also the Kuran and many Haddithes command Muslims to ever, ever side with other Muslims right or wrong so in case those people were really Muslims they were disobeying the law. On the other side Catholics trying to kill those Bishiops who had tried to shelter Jews were not obeying the Church.
They were muslims. If by ” nice try ” you mean I am trying to convince you of something, I am not. The facts prove you wrong, not myself.
Your link doesn’t say they were Muslims. You say so.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/03/documentary-seeks-to-explain-why-albanians-saved-jews-in-holocaust/comment-page-8/
Gross overstatement doesn’t help you make your case, sir. I know the RCC has been very guilty of hatred and violence toward the Jewish people (and I am a LONG way from being a defender of Rome!), but let’s try to avoid the hyperbole.
I agree they are MORE GUILTY, in that they claim to follow the teachings of Christ, and are therefore much more morally culpable for their evil acts.
Why did the vast majority of Jews end up in Catholic countries rather than Islamic ones? Or Protestant ones for that matter?
And why tehre isn’t
And why there isn’t a single Jewish success story in Muslims countries?
The vast majority of Jews live in either Israel or the USA.
Neither is a ” catholic country “.
I think he was speaking of medieval Europe. Would be interesting to study the history of Spanish Jews during the Reconquista since it was a point of contact: did Spanish Jews tend to move from Muslim kingdoms to Christian ones or the opposite? Did they tend to follow Muslims in their retreat or did they stay in place? Looks more like the matter since they fought on Peter I, the Cruel during a Castilian civil war. Unfortunately for them, Peter I was defeated ans slain by his brother, thus gaining the nickname the Cruel for him (actually he was not a bad king) and the lasting enmity of his brother for the Jews.
The history of genocide against Jews in Catholic countries is so long and so well documented that only the willfully blind could state otherwise. Rather than rewrite history, Catholics are obligated to learn from it, atone for it, and make amends as far as humanly possible. Unfortunately none of that seems to be happening.
Still looking forward to the specifics regarding your Bat Yeor reference. Thanks.
Not in Medieval Europe when you said they were being treated better by the Muslims.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church remains committed to deepening its relations with Jews and finds it “absolutely unacceptable” to consider the Jewish people as enemies, the Vatican spokesman said.
“It is absolutely unacceptable, impossible, to define the Jews as enemies of the church,” Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said.
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1300086.htm
An excellent example of how well we compartmentalize, is how many professional criminals–even violent criminals–are religious Christians.
There have been studies of criminals and their mindset. Anyone who thinks that religion would deter crime should think again. There are plenty of criminals who are religious and keep right on stealing and murdering.
These criminals even pray to God regularly. What do they pray about? They pray to God to let them escape the cops and get acquitted in court. I’m not making this up.
Far less than “religious atheists” and “religious muslims”.
Interesting article. I don’t know much about this group, SSPX, but they do sound more than a bit over the edge.
The one line of the author’s, though, “the integrity of the soul is bargained for personal gain” is a wise observation of what so many of us do. We need to be reminded of what we give up in these bargains.
Jeanette, would you please clarify one sentence?
This description of SSPX makes it sound as if you are saying that, along with refusing to wear pants, they also refuse to believe in the Trinity.
Is that the case? Does SSPX deny the Trinity?
Or is that merely an awkward construction which seems to say something that was not intended?
14 sinz 54
For a very interesting study on the relationship between committed religion and various pathologies (quite balanced considering its religious genesis) see the text of the following link:
http://www.ionainstitute.ie/pdfs/Religious_practice.pdf
Best,
Richard
The SSPX has set itself apart from the Catholic Church. It rejects Vatican II. It is very unfortunate that readers are considering them representative of the Catholic Church when the Vatican itself is struggling mightily to reconcile with them and it does not appear to be working out too well. In my opinion the Vatican is probably to some extent concerned that non-Catholics will consider SSPX views as consistent with the church, which they are not. This is clearly causing pain within the church. It looks to me that they are a huge embarrassment.
They reject the reforms of Vatican II, which included a conscious effort to amend harms done “thy chosen people,” “our brethren.”
Fraternity S.Pio X is really a backward, almost nostalgic matter; the Vatican has cleared the matter many times, it is a waste of time and almost a diversion , a smoke screen helping the really dangerous left-liberal blood-libel of the left, to raise alarm on those lunatics.
Please stop this marginal agitation and do focus on the real , active and powerful ( meaning right now in the White House, the Pentagon, the CIA , the liberal-leftists medias …) which are actively debasing the legitimacy of Israel.
This constant diatribe against the Catholic Church, Pious, is not about anti-semitism. It is about two different routes for the religious. One comes from a group that proclaims itself to be the chosen of Yahwah (God), theother from thos who believe you must enlist in good causes to become a loved scion of God.
In this context it is more understandable the constant bickering that poses under the premise of “anti-semitism”.
Further, the history of jews who have opposed christianity is as replete in its affection for “monsters” like Hitler, Marx and Engels as any counter history of all the christian churches. Hitler was “banked” to power by jews oridginally (Warburg and Loeb)who provided the financing for his putsch since they had chosen him to recruit for National Socialism while their other banking confreres were backing Lenin, etc (remember the famous train to Moscow). Recent history includes most of the Media constructed since WWII all hellbent on destroying all christians.
Living in Saudi Arabia, I learned that there are two camps of jews in important positions in even that world. The Saudis have their jewish supporters who enjoy monopoly control of whole segments of industry and business in the Kingdom. Their only requirement for service is that they are not Zionists. Seeveral of the families involved have served the saudis from the beginning.
I am not a Catholic, I am an agnoostic, a heritage from my own sephardic ancestry. The sephardics are in the main, agnostic jews believing they alone are the real jews…The “Our Crowd” group made so famous by Stephen Birmingham.
These people are the real problem. They are in the forefront of most societal transformations because they have a different way to heaven. They love numbers, combinations of numbers and developed the whole concept of how numbers can solve anything, including the mystery of life. I do not consider myself to be one with them because I don’t believe numbers, graphs even theorems solve anything, they just confuse and allow a spieler to take over! I do not like the Goldman Sachs of this world because i do not believe they are doing God’s work!
One last fact. The last Pious to sit as head of the Catholic Church was a som of the sephardics. The Pope, head of the Vatican in the transition from WWII, was born a Pacelli and even ptesided over the dual wedding of his niece to a Rothschild, one catholic and one sephardic! If that Pious is guilty of having not aided the lews during the Hitler regime, well, therein may be the solution as to wh there is so much confusion re anti-semitism!
From my perspective, the Catholics claiming jewish persecution and ubversion are correct. Frankly, the jews themselves had best look at their own groups beginning with George Soros and lloyd B.
With the coming Islamic Age being forced upon us, I hope for a resurgence if the Vatican, the Orthodox, the Evangelists, all those christians who have provided a place for all jews in our world because they believe jews and christians are brothers and sister because of Christ.
I fear for both jews and christians when Islam and its jewish partners take over! Remmebre what a pleasure George Soros writes about when he was helping to profit from the calamity of the jews losing all in Nazi lands!
…when the apology is worse than the statement.
“By referring to the Jews, Bishop Fellay’s comment was aimed at the leaders of Jewish organizations, and not the Jewish people, as is being implied by journalists.”
Yeah, we didn’t mean all the jews, we only meant their (learned) elders.
Vatican 2 can be understood as the Church’s adjustment to the reality of operating in a world where the state was no longer Catholic and there was no prospect of Catholicism being reestablished. This is the crux of SSPX’s difficulty with the Council’s documents. As this reality emerged and as, simultaneously, Jews began to participate in civil society, Jews naturally gravitated to secularist political movements. In some countries the disestablishment of Christianity took oppressive, anti-Catholic and anti-Orthodox forms.
The anti-semitism of SSPX needs to be understood in the light of this history. It has nothing to do with race, it has nothing really to do with adherence to the Jewish faith. In the same breath SSPXers speak of Freemasons and Jews and the only way to make sense of this is the common agenda of Freemasons and secularist Jews to disestablish Christianity.
The problem with the SSPX is first of all their goal which is a restoration of the pre-Enlightenment relationship between Church and State and secondly their rhetoric which is a relic of the 19th century. When they express their position with this language they discredit their own cause and fan the embers of anti-Jewish hatred among Christians.
@Charles R Williams
Your history is a bit weak. Jews were in “civil society” for centuries before SSPX arose in the early/mid sixties. SSPX came from a rejection of the so called “Spirit of Vatican II”, itself a lie created by liberals in the Church who couldn’t get their ideas into the actual documents of the Council, but declared victory anyway. SSPX simply rejected the election of all popes after, I think, Paul VI, and declared their own succession- a position that has no validity except in their own minds. Once seperated from the RCC, they developed a few more doctines of their own, and consecrated bishops in spite of a ban by Rome. The doctinal disagreements, lack of recognition of papal sucession, and validity of those consecrations are the subject matter of ongoing discussions with the Vatican. SSPX is essentially a schismatic church, like the Orthodox, but with somewhat less claim to legitimate Apostolic sucession.
To the extent they continue to develope a tradition contrary to that of Rome, to include their treatment of the “Jewish issue”, they are moving further from unity with the RCC. Declaring themselves the true “remnant” only makes reconciliation more difficult. Hopefully this example of anti-semitism will cause a reconsideration of the validity of their seperation.
PJ Media, Jeanette’s accusations are only made credible through her usage of the example of her personal life that she has made public. Specifying she was a nun for 8 years does not add unknown info to her story as she gave her age as 46 and “joined the organization at 13.” Her bio specifies she was “in” it for 30 years and nobody becomes a nun at 13. This is the third time I am trying to submit this comment, feel free to drop me an email and tell me why you are blocking it.
The SSPX is not a cult, nor is it anti-Semitic. Read Marcia Rudin’s “Too Good to be True: Resisting Cults and Psychological Manipulation”. {2} Here is an excerpt
Groups That Aren’t Cults
• are not deceptive; tell people what life in the group will be like; tell the real name of the group and its leadership.
• allow people time to think over their commitments to it carefully.
• respect the individual’s autonomy and independence.
• respond to critics respectfully.
• respect the family and one’s commitment to it.
• have built-in controls to watch over their leader(s), so behavior and abuses can be monitored and corrected.
Now, Jeanette, you continuously mislead your readership to believe that lay persons are members of the SSPX, it is a fraternity of priests, with supporting orders of sisters and monks (brothers, whatever you want to call them). Lay persons may attend mass and receive sacraments from the SSPX priests, but there are no memberships. I believe you were only a nun for 8 short years. So saying you were in this organization for 30 years is either an outright lie or accidentally misleading others. Were you allowed to think over your commitment? Frankly I never heard of anyone but you spending 8 years to decide whether or not to take their final vows as a nun. Your autonomy and independence were respected, you left the convent and chose your own life. No SSPX priest would ever interfere with someone’s family. Did they watch over their leader’s behavior? Yes, Bp. Williamson was corrected numerous times before finally being expelled. You weren’t in a cult.
From your article, “Of far more serious concern and number are the priests and faithful who disagree with the Antisemitism.” Do you really feel that way? Or is this another case of playing it loose with the truth? You know who I am. I don’t seek the public arena with my full name, but how many PhD chemists named Mary who would drive 30 miles at night in bad snow to bring you a sippy cup (because you asked me to) do you know?
PJmedia, this story is already in the public domain on another comment on this site.
What shunning or alienation are you experiencing? I am an old friend, I have reached out time and time again, yet I am shunned by you. If you have a serious concern why aren’t you talking to me on Skype with coffee?
To paraphrase Rex Harrison, some people’s veracity you can doubt a bit.
I think it would benefit the PJ Media readers to learn about Münchausen by Internet{3}. It is a pattern of behavior in which Internet users seek attention by feigning disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münchausen_by_Internet
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Münchausen_syndrome
You have my attention, you have my sympathy. I would love to understand how exactly you believe you were brainwashed to become anti-Semitic via occasional youtube or silly newsletter of Bp. Williamson. If you really are going to claim the convent was anti-Semitic, name sisters and mother superiors who committed this crime. Tell what they published, or must I listen to the sound of silence again?
OK, I think I managed to say everything in such a way that Pj Media permitted the posts. I only have only thing left to say.
I pity you.
And regarding myself, language doesn’t have a word for what I feel. Joseph Roux says it best,
“We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.”
I wish you happiness in this life and in the next, with love,
Mary
Ah, J. Pryor, I had hoped you would have a real conversation this time. I guess it is hard to find the time when you are so busy shunning me. Regards!
“The greatest obstacle is having to recognize that years of one’s life may have been ‘wasted’ in a group that embraces a racism [antisemitism] incompatible with authentic Christianity.”
The root of the Holocaust is in the gospels. Are the gospels not “authentic Christianity”?
Naizs were not Christians and you aren’t one.
Those commenters above who insist that SSPX is not ant-semetic are downright hilarious. Even the last Pope, the Pole, could see that SSPX was a nasty ratbag organization full of racists and perverters of the faith. Which is why he excommunicated it, and specifically denounced one of its most egregious members, Roger Williams. Sadly, the current pope– the one who has acted as an apologist for and abettor to men who have raped and tortured children– has seen fit to invite these monsters back into the church.
Oops. Please substitute “Richard Williamson” for “Roger Williams” above. I didn’t mean to implicate the Catholics of America’s colonial era in SSPX’s savage stupidity, but I’m writing in a coffee shop full of screaming children and morons trying to sell pre-paid legal, etc. This is the sort of classic malapropism one commits when blogging in such a distracting environment.
I didn’t submit this, so why did it post?
I think you are drunk and should pick your hands up and back away from the computer! Smell the coffee, what’s in it?
Maybe there are problems with the SSPX, but this articles provides no convincing evidence that it is a cult. The issue of compartmentalizing a problem is not enough. People “compartmentalize” all kinds of things in everyday life: a woman might fervently and understandably believe that her husband is the best man in the world, even though he won’t do the dishes as she requests; an auto worker in the Midwest might continue to stongly believe in his union, even though it has been responsible for American jobs being lost to Asia. There aren’t many ideologies which are 100% true. Being defensive about problematic aspects of one’s belief is pretty widespread in human nature. Mary’s comment above, in which she lists characteristics of groups that aren’t cults, needs to be fully addressed.
Many people at PJMedia are understandably very sensitive about anti-semitism. Nonetheless, there needs to be a lot more evidence to convince me that the SSPX is a dangerous group with the potential for massive harm, solely because some of its members are impolitic in their language about Jews whom they view as antagonists, and because non-anti-semitic members are defensive about that. I listened to Bishop Fellay’s hour-and-a-half discussion, and he said many reasonable things about the assaults of modernism against Catholicism, from outside and inside the church. Vatican II has had many harmful effects on the Roman Catholic Church, such as a dumbing-down of worship and an emphasis on left-wing “social justice” causes, as described by Michael Voris. And it seems to me that, in Bishop Fellay’s controversial statement highlighted above, he very likely was referring to Jews, religious or secular, who had been explicitly anti-Catholic. There have been such people! He did not make his statement in today’s PC language, but that does not mean he is equivalent to a Nazi.
If you want more than one should be able to expect from a blog post, I suggest reading what respected canon lawyer Pete Vere has written. He’s had some experience with the SSPX and other high-pressure “Catholic” movements (it’s commonly accepted that only Communion and Liberation is more or less problem-free in the RCC; others should be avoided).
The thing about the word “cult” is that the professionals (like ICSA) don’t use it when talking to the public; I guess it’s like “psycho”, where laypersons use the term to describe a general situation but no one is attempting to pretend that he’s diagnosing. So if (when) I say that the SSPX, LC, Opus Dei, Jehovah Witnesses, Liberalism and Amway are cults, you wouldn’t assume that I’m proclaiming a universal truth and all that. First, everyone’s experience isn’t the same. Usually, a cult’s “rock stars” (Tom Cruise, the Scalias, Karen Santorum, Mel Gibson etc) continue to be lovebombed and don’t get the negative behavioral modification that everyone else gets. So they aren’t subject to “being in a cult”. Also, some people have a disposition such that they just don’t suffer negative effects from their exposure (the only example I can think of right now is the LC’s Jack Keough; he wrote a book called “Driving Straight on Crooked Lines”).
Thank you, Jeannette. I appreciate the reply.
Ooops, that post was mine. I try to post as “the other Jeannette” in Jeanette’s posts but sometimes I slip up.
Thank you, “the other Jeannette”!
So let’s get this straight…..
1. You recommend we read Peter Vere. Yet the author Melanson (interviewed by Southern Poverty Law Center) in correspondence shows Vere supports Feeney-ites as not being outside the Catholic church. Do you have any idea how racist and anti-Semitic Feeney-ites are? Type a few key words into google search, you can be a researcher too! They also reject the Catholic Doctrine of Baptism by Blood and Baptism by Desire….
2. So, you are saying when J. Pryor states someone is in a cult, she is not proclaiming a universal truth? Yup, I can agree with that.
3. So, are you saying that J. Pryor was in a cult all alone? Well, if we drop the definition of cult by the ICSA, I suppose everyone could be in their own cult all alone too!
4. I have a question for you, can you spell Münchausen by Internet? When some people are deceived, they go into denial, because they hate to admit the deception could have occurred, especially if they feel an emotional investment in their internet friend.
5. Have you read any of the questions I have been asking?
6. My invitation is still there, attend mass at an SSPX chapel and listen to the sermon, then hang out with the parishioners eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. We are quiet people who love God and are busy living happy, hard work filled lives (have to pay those taxes!) while trying to save our souls.
This is big Miracle to extract the Whore of Babylon from the three Abraham faiths until then innocent and pure ,hold your nose.
Rabanus Maurus Magnentius 780 -856
There can be no doubt that the Scriptures call both the synagogue and the Church adulteresses and prostitutes. At first sight, this seems blasphemous, but then we turn to the prophets. … The attentive listener will ask how a prostitute can represent the Church, who has neither spot nor wrinkle. But we are not saying that the Church remained a prostitute, but simply that she used to be “
The Left’s Blood Libel: Pope Pius XII Was Not “Hitler’s Pope”
http://predicthistunpredictpast.blogspot.com/2011/07/lefts-blood-libel-pope-pius-xii-was-not.html
I can’t figure out why PJ would publish this article.
The author’s award for … The Transformative Power of Holocaust Education.
begs the question – What exactly do you transform into?
The hatchet piece on SSPX was too much. Both Williamson and Fellay are
colorful and audacious characters. I have no association with SSPX, I’ve seen their material on the internet and they are absolutely a refreshing scream of traditional Catholic orthodoxy. The Catholic’s make some outlandish
claims… They believe that the all powerful, all knowing, all loving
God returns to earth miraculously in the form of bread at the alter.
Williamson does not believe that people were gassed to death at Auschwitz.
I’m sure he has his reasons. As a follow-up perhaps PJ should ask him.
I do know for a fact that my Grandfather as an American soldier was gassed
in the trenches of Europe by the Germans during WWI. This type of historical
fact – the goodness and sacrifice of The American people is more in line
with what I’ve seen on PJ.
Running the Pryor piece was a poor editorial move for sure.