Operation Honeypot

The Deep Church Career of The Bearded One

This Wolf, while definitely a "Conspiracy Theorist", likes to stay at high altitude, so that he can see the present crisis from a grand historical perspective.  And now, from the proper perspective, these fifty years since the close of Vatican II can be brought into perspective.  Our enemies have always played the long game, even though they pepper the historical landscape with very dramatic events.  And the goal always remains the same: to make the Redemption wrought by Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ a distant memory.
Recently, this Wolf has listened to a number of JooToob videos hosted by Miss Happy Catholic, where she interviews "recovering Traditionalists" mostly from the SSPX, but some from the CMRI.  This Wolf can safely say that, in most cases, those being interviewed were their own worst enemy, although some notable exceptions exist.  Meanwhile, Miss Happy Catholic pillories many facets of our Holy Faith, including the wearing of chapel veils (the 1983 code of canon law abolished the requirement, don't you know), the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary (it's only a private, optional devotion.), modesty of dress (we have natural beauty, and God forbid we look frumpy.), and the Baltimore Catechism (It's just rules, rules, rules and Hell, Hell, Hell.).  Apparently, Miss Happy Catholic only has two dogmas: #1.  Our Lord Jesus Christ really is present at the "New Mass", and #2 God would just never abandon the Vatican and the Conciliar Church.  Whether she has any other beliefs, after listening for some fifteen hours, is unclear.  But not unexpected; as Fr Wathen would say, the only thing the Conciliar Church really requires is participation.  And, needless to say, Our Lady of Fatima (who?) is not mentioned once.
This Wolf did, however, garner some insights into the SSPX, on which he would like to elaborate.  Having spent some twenty years of his life affiliated with, and even working for, the SSPX, he can speak rather authoritatively concerning the criticisms both Miss Happy Catholic and her "recovering Traditionalists" allege.  But before doing that, this Wolf will give a brief account of his twenty years in the Conciliar Church, and his journey to the SSPX.
This Wolf was in Parochial Grade School, in 2nd Grade, when the "New Mass" came to town, so he was on the proverbial ground floor, so to speak, up close and personal.  And the Liturgical Revolution hit little St Anne's like an unexpected tsunami at a picnic on the beach.  Of course, we had been warmed for the arrival of the Great Architect Anibale Bugnini's Happy Meal by now having the Mass in English, alterations of the Canon, elimination of what liturgists call "The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar", and other sundry changes too tedious to list here.  Nevertheless, the complete upheaval was still dramatic.  In just a few short months, we students were singing "Joy to the Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea, Joy to You and Me" in lieu of the Sanctus, to the strumming of Mrs Mastropietro's guitar, at school "Masses".  That summer, we went to a "Catholic Retreat" at a place in Cape May, New Jersey, where we got Clown Masses, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and Hippie Liberalism on Steroids, as they say.  
While my father, who had been educated at public school, took everything in stride, looked forward to tennis every Saturday, and continued to take us to confession every month, my mother had apoplexy.  One week she walked out of "Mass" weeping.  We took refuge at the Cloister of the Dominican Nuns of the Perpetual Rosary, where a "reverent" Novus Ordo was said by an old Dominican Priest doing his best to slather lipstick all over the pig.  (He might have even said the proper words of consecration under his breath.)  No guitars or clowns here, just altar boys in cassock and surplice.   Eventually, we settled into going to Mass at St Joseph's across town, where afterward we took grandma home for the Big Sunday Dinner, an enduring tradition that lasted throughout my childhood.
This Wolf, of course, was much too busy with childhood to pay much notice to the cultural storms raging around him.  Between building scale models of every ship afloat during World War II, collecting one thousand different beer cans, paper routes, and later, a burgeoning career at the steakhouse and majoring in math and chemistry at college, the Crisis in the Church was just a peripheral affair.  Oh, sure, he read the Wanderer, and was aware of the more dramatic instances of bishops spouting heresy and over-the-top liturgical abuses.  And he dutifully went to the "March for Life" in Washington every year, so he was somewhat involved with the Culture War.  And during the Hot Summer of '78, he took an unforgettable ride on the Elevated Train over South Philadelphia, and witnessed devastation comparable to a bombed German City.  (That is not an exaggeration; the streets below were literally impassible for vehicular traffic, even a bicycle.)
But things only came to a head ten years later, in 1990, the year of the Grand Convergence.  The previous Autumn, in 1989, this Wolf had become completely disenfranchised with the education racket.  During his student teaching, he learned the local school districts were all liberal swamps where communist ideology had prevailed.  He despaired of having any career in teaching, even in a religious school, and, naturally, in this period of distress, turned to the Church and attempted to deepen his faith.  In so doing, he learned that his local parish of St Anne's, though having a more "conservative" veneer, was a hotbed of heresy and corruption.  The choir director told him she did not believe in Hell, and one of the members blithely told him she received communion at the Lutheran service right before coming here to do the same.
Meanwhile, he had read Randall Baer's revealing Inside the New Age Nightmare, which was the High Road to "Conspiracy Theory".  And when this Wolf saw those same New Age practices occurring in the Conciliar Church, he became quite alarmed.  That, of course, led to a more in depth study of the theological landscape, which led this Wolf to the publications of Fr Paul Wickens, Michael Davies, and Archbishop Lefebvre.  And, after a LOT of discernment, this Wolf decided to "enter" the SSPX, which he did on Low Sunday, 1991, at St Judes in Eddystone, PA, which is essentially in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
And so, yes, this Wolf can understand people saying the SSPX has a "siege mentality" and is somewhat like a "cult".  When one understands that the vast majority of Catholics have apostatized, at least materially if not formally, and that the prevailing "culture" is akin to Sodom and Gomorrah, this Wolf supposes one would have a "siege mentality" also.  That being said, he can level some legitimate criticisms of the SSPX which were echoed by everybody Miss Happy Catholic interviewed.
The first is that the SSPX seems to be stuck in 1975, and determined to "restore" the Church to 1955.  (The prevailing opinion is that the Pontificate of Pius XII was the summit and epitome of Christendom and the grave problems of that pontiff are completely overlooked.)  The second is that the vast majority of those patronizing the SSPX are just there for the "bells and smells" and have just substituted "My Pope right or wrong" for "My SSPX Superior right or wrong".  (Especially the men seem completely devoid of any critical thinking skills, while the women are essentially running the home and parish life.)  The third is that the SSPX priests give a distorted and simplistic explanation for the apostasy in the church, dating it just from Vatican II, and meanwhile seem satisfied with just offering Mass, hearing confessions, conducting an occasional retreat or pilgrimage, operating schools, and overseeing a myriad of fund-raising operations.  Meanwhile, they seem perfectly content that their flocks are card-carrying members- sometimes quite literally- of the New Sodom, and lampoon and ridicule those seeking to build sustainable households and "get off the grid".

If that were all, things would be bad enough.  But now this Wolf is convinced, after listening to several of the interviews, that the SSPX is merely a mirror and a microcosm of the puerile corruption of the Vatican, and has its own motley collection of Satanic Pederasts, who appear to date from the time of Archbishop Lefebvre.  (And, yes, one can make a convincing argument that the Bearded One was one himself.)  The Father Rostand Affair is only the final nail in the coffin of the SSPX's supposed holiness and sanctity.  For all the high-sounding verbiage, and for all the doctrinal truth, this organization was never pure or holy.

Just as Donald Trump was recycled from a Pro-Abortion Democrat to "The Greatest Pro-Life Republican Ever", so Archbishop Lefebvre was recycled from a rather liberal bearded African Bishop to the Ultra-Conservative Ultramontane Leader of the "Traditionalist Movement".  Four years of Shock and Awe culminated in a mysterious summit meeting between the Archbishop and Pope Paul VI at the Vatican on September 11th, 1976.  An alleged Transcript of the meeting is available, but this Wolf is now convinced that is just hoi polloi for the goys.  

Instead, let us look at What Really Happened.

From 1977 to 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre globe-trotted.  A typical account from The New York Times dated June 30th, 1984: "Msgr. Marcel Lefebvre, the French traditionalist archbishop suspended from all priestly activities by Pope Paul VI in 1976, ordained 25 new priests of his movement today, urging them to help ''rebuild'' the Roman Catholic Church.  Monsignor Lefebvre, 76 years old, spoke against ''fables deceiving the human mind,' which he said included 'ecumenism and the propagation of human rights.'"  The drama culminated with the Archbishop consecrating four bishops on june 29th, 1988.  A few days later, JP2 would issue "Ecclesia Dei" and the Catholic World would for years debate whether the SSPX was in schism.  Meanwhile, this was the start of the "Cold War" between Rome and the SSPX.  No debate or interaction would occur between the Vatican and the SSPX all during the 1990's.
The Great Thaw came during a "Jubilee Pilgrimage" by the SSPX to Rome in 2000.  Bishop Fellay and his entourage were invited to have dinner at the Vatican.  Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos presented Bishop Fellay with a proposal to "regularize" the SSPX which was met with suspicion.  But it did pave the way for the secret "doctrinal sessions" with the Vatican that metastasized into negotiations.  Meanwhile, the spark that would begin the culmination of this period was the issuance of the moto proprio "Summorum Pontificum" on July 7th, 2007.  This led to an open series of "negotiations" with the Vatican which culminated with the "lifting of the excommunications" of the SSPX Bishops by Pope Benedict on January 24th, 2009.  Concurrent with this was the whole sordid, "Bishop Williamson Affair" which will not be detailed here.

In retrospect, this Wolf is now convinced that the Vatican and the SSPX are but two wings of the same proverbial bird.  The SSPX was built upon controversy, polemics, and disparity.  Moreover, positions, such as that of Fr Leonard Feeney, were woefully misrepresented, fueling bitter disputes.  And priests disagreeing with the SSPX positions were vilified, resulting in further cleavages, and continuing instability.  This Wolf now believes that all the turmoil, as well as the poor catechetics, was deliberate.  Adding to all this was the tendency of many clerics in the SSPX to "stir the pot", so to speak.  For example, the large front page reproduction of a Sound of Music Poster showing Julie Andrews as Maria Von Trapp dancing over an Austrian hill while swinging a guitar case in one hand a suitcase in another while added demons were emerging from both pieces of luggage to infest the four corners of the earth on the Seminary Newspaper highlighted Bishop Williamson's continuing diatribes against the movie.  Seriously, Bishop Williamson, didn't we have some bigger fish to fry in 1998 than the hyperbolic critique of the most popular flick amid Traditional Catholicism? (Especially when one considers that the Bishop was a big fan of Maria Valtorta, and her schmaltzy "Life of Christ".)

This Wolf feels for those poor souls leaving dysfunctional centers of SSPX influence, such as St Marys, having been profoundly affected, and having their lives totally destroyed, by the cultish environment there.  The greatest tragedy, of course, is they blame Traditional Catholicism for all the woes that befall them, rather than malicious- and in some cases downright predatory- priests, teachers, and administrators.  And this Wolf can understand, even if he does not approve, their flight from the SSPX for the exact same reason their parents and grandparents fled the Conciliar Church- a desire for "normalcy".

Meanwhile, the Conciliar Church has not been inactive.  Perceiving that their liberated confreres were leading the Institutional Church to extinction, some bishops decided upon damage control measures.  They allowed Traditional Mass Centers in their dioceses, as well as more "reverent" refuges for embattered churchgoers seeking stability.  The seminaries started to encourage a more doctrinal formation, as well as more prayerful students.  And so we have a "New Generation" of Conciliar Priests that have Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, recite the Rosary, encourage novenas and other devotions, and have sermons and conferences that sound decidedly more "Catholic".  (Of course, these priests remain invalidly ordained, and their Masses are invalid as well.)  Many souls associated with the SSPX and their livid descriptions of the desecrations of days gone by, are convinced the Conciliar Church is reforming itself, a la a Protestant "Revival".

The overall situation for Catholics- and humanity in general- is orders of magnitude worse than it was in 1970.  And Only Our Lady of Fatima can help us.  Miss Happy Catholic is not going to be happy she has so trivialized the Most Holy Rosary, the Heavenly Weapon and Gift Our Lady has given us.  "With the Holy Rosary we will save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, console Our Lord and obtain the salvation of many souls."- St Sr Lucia to Fr Augustine Fuentes, December 26th, 1958.

Above all else, remain in the Cenacle and at the Foot of the Cross with Our Lady.  The First Rain Bands of a Category Seven Geopolitical Storm are upon us.