This past May 22nd marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first Traditionalist Bishop to take a stand against the Modernist Vatican II sect. The name will be a surprise to many. It's not the name Lefebvre (he didn't come onto the scene until 1969), it's not Thuc (unheard of until the mid-1970s), it's not Mendez (he wouldn't be around until the late 1980s), and it's not de Castro Mayer (he fought to keep the Faith only in his diocese of Campos and would not do more until the 1980s). It was Bishop Blaise Kurz, a bishop of Faith and courage rarely ever seen, especially since the world-wide Deformation that was Vatican II.
When the historical revisionists of the Society of St. Pius X tell us that Archbishop Lefebvre was the "first and only" bishop to fight the Modernists (with Bp. Antonio de Castro Mayer a distant second place), I can't help feeling angry. In this post, I want my readers to know the truth about a brave bishop who is rarely (if ever) credited in the fight for "Truth and Tradition."
Who was Bishop Blaise Kurz?
He was the only bishop from the Rhineland who was staunchly Catholic and refused to be won over by the likes of arch-Modernists Joseph Frings, and Bernard Alfrink. Blaise Kurz was born on the feast of St. Blaise, of a pious German Catholic family in the town of Sontheim in 1894. As was the case with many European Catholics, children were named after the saint's feast on which they were born (if the saint was of the other gender, the name of a saint with the same gender whose feast day was closest to the child's birthday got picked).
From an early age, Kurz felt called to the priesthood. On December 21, 1919, he was ordained to the holy priesthood by the great Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber of the Archdiocese of Munich. Cardinal von Faulhaber wasn't merely anti-Nazi, he wanted the restoration of a Catholic monarchy! Ironically, this brave prelate ordained two men to the priesthood who would clash directly at Vatican II---the aforementioned Blaise Kurz, and Joseph Ratzinger in 1951. The Cardinal passed in 1952.
Fr. Kurz was ordained a Franciscan, and as a loyal son of St. Francis, he spent the next 20 years of his life as a missionary priest in China, converting the pagans to the One True Church of Christ. On July 11, 1939, the 45 year old missionary was informed that the newly elected and crowned Pope Pius XII had chosen him to be consecrated as a bishop; with the pope himself as his principal consecrator. So it was that on the feast of Christ the King, October 29, 1939, Fr. Kurz was raised to the episcopacy by His Holiness with Archbishops Celso Constantini and Henri Streicher as co-consecrators at the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica.
The young bishop was assigned by the pope to the Diocese of Kokstad, South Africa. Kokstad is a small town on the slopes of the Drakensberg Mountains, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, overlooking South Africa’s southern coast. The bishop spent the next eight years living in a large institute for the deaf and mute. While there, he met a Franciscan missionary priest from the Belgian Congo, who came there when an inner ear infection threatened to make him deaf. This priest was Fr. Adhemar DePauw, the older brother of Fr. Gommar DePauw who would found the Catholic Traditionalist Movement in 1964. Fr. Adhemar and Bp. Kurz, both zealous for the salvation of souls, became good friends. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the Protestant British in charge of South Africa placed German-born Bp. Kurz under arrest because "Germans can't be trusted." Apparently, not even when they are Roman Catholic bishops appointed by the pope and have been law-abiding citizens all their lives.
Fr. Adhemar came to the rescue. Using his influence as a Belgian citizen, and with the help of his father's money, the government allowed the bishop to be bailed out and placed in Fr. Adhemar's custody. After the war, in 1948, Pope Pius XII appointed Bp. Kurz as the Ordinary of the newly created Diocese of Yungchow, China--putting him back in the country he loved and where he made many converts to the Faith. He took canonical possession of the diocese on May 21st of that year. The very next year, the Communists took over China, and Bp. Kurz was ordered back to Rome. He barely escaped with his life. As a reward for his Apostolic zeal, Pope Pius granted to Bp. Kurz the privilege of a "personal prelature" of sorts, whereby he retained Ordinary jurisdiction with all the rights of any other diocesan bishop even though his diocese was suppressed by the Communists.
In 1949, Bp. Kurz was invited by Francis Cardinal Spellman to take up residence in his Archdiocese of NYC--the Cardinal was virulently anti-Communist and thought the good bishop would like the United States. That same year, Fr. Gommar DePauw immigrated to the U.S. and was incardinated into the Archdiocese of NYC. His brother flew in from Belgium to introduce them--two anti-Communist, anti-Modernists taking up residence in the USA. Needless to say, they became good friends as well. From 1949 to 1962, Bp. Kurz spent his days much like a humble parish priest, except when asked by the Cardinal to perform a Confirmation. Fr. DePauw relates that the way he was degraded by some pastors was shameful; treating his German accent as "proof" that he was "an enemy of freedom."
[A note to my readers: You will see the words "incardinated" and "excardinated" used in this post. When in normal times, a priest needed to be under the jurisdiction of a prelate with Ordinary jurisdiction. In most cases, this means belonging to a particular diocese. A priest is said to be incardinated when he belongs to a particular diocese or personal prelature. Excardination means the priest has been freed from the jurisdiction of his superior to be incardinated elsewhere. This was a big concern immediately after Vatican II. The situation was not fully understood. We now know that we are in a state of sedevacante, so priests and bishops can function by means of supplied jurisdiction until such time as the Church should return to Her usual mode of operation. The position of the so-called "Home Aloners," contending that you must stay "home alone" due to a lack of Ordinary jurisdiction in this time of near universal apostasy, is just pure theological ignorance many times discredited. ---Introibo]
Fifty years ago, a very brave successor of the Apostles stood up for a very brave priest in a fight for "Truth and Tradition." It's my pious belief that should the Church be restored to Her former glory with a True Pope, we will see the feast days of St. Gommar of Westbury and St. Blaise of Sontheim. If it is God's Will that this mess shall remain until Christ returns in Glory, I can't help but think that Father and His Excellency are together smiling down upon all of us Traditionalists, as we try to fight the good fight. It was God Who inspired them to start this battle just over a half century ago; a battle we continue today. I admit that I get upset when Fr. DePauw--and even to a greater degree, Bp. Kurz--get ignored for their rightful role in keeping the True Faith alive in the wake of Vatican II. However, I remember that all the heroic good deeds they did are remembered by God. In the end, isn't that all that really matters for any of us?
The young bishop was assigned by the pope to the Diocese of Kokstad, South Africa. Kokstad is a small town on the slopes of the Drakensberg Mountains, in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, overlooking South Africa’s southern coast. The bishop spent the next eight years living in a large institute for the deaf and mute. While there, he met a Franciscan missionary priest from the Belgian Congo, who came there when an inner ear infection threatened to make him deaf. This priest was Fr. Adhemar DePauw, the older brother of Fr. Gommar DePauw who would found the Catholic Traditionalist Movement in 1964. Fr. Adhemar and Bp. Kurz, both zealous for the salvation of souls, became good friends. Soon after the outbreak of World War II, the Protestant British in charge of South Africa placed German-born Bp. Kurz under arrest because "Germans can't be trusted." Apparently, not even when they are Roman Catholic bishops appointed by the pope and have been law-abiding citizens all their lives.
Fr. Adhemar came to the rescue. Using his influence as a Belgian citizen, and with the help of his father's money, the government allowed the bishop to be bailed out and placed in Fr. Adhemar's custody. After the war, in 1948, Pope Pius XII appointed Bp. Kurz as the Ordinary of the newly created Diocese of Yungchow, China--putting him back in the country he loved and where he made many converts to the Faith. He took canonical possession of the diocese on May 21st of that year. The very next year, the Communists took over China, and Bp. Kurz was ordered back to Rome. He barely escaped with his life. As a reward for his Apostolic zeal, Pope Pius granted to Bp. Kurz the privilege of a "personal prelature" of sorts, whereby he retained Ordinary jurisdiction with all the rights of any other diocesan bishop even though his diocese was suppressed by the Communists.
In 1949, Bp. Kurz was invited by Francis Cardinal Spellman to take up residence in his Archdiocese of NYC--the Cardinal was virulently anti-Communist and thought the good bishop would like the United States. That same year, Fr. Gommar DePauw immigrated to the U.S. and was incardinated into the Archdiocese of NYC. His brother flew in from Belgium to introduce them--two anti-Communist, anti-Modernists taking up residence in the USA. Needless to say, they became good friends as well. From 1949 to 1962, Bp. Kurz spent his days much like a humble parish priest, except when asked by the Cardinal to perform a Confirmation. Fr. DePauw relates that the way he was degraded by some pastors was shameful; treating his German accent as "proof" that he was "an enemy of freedom."
[A note to my readers: You will see the words "incardinated" and "excardinated" used in this post. When in normal times, a priest needed to be under the jurisdiction of a prelate with Ordinary jurisdiction. In most cases, this means belonging to a particular diocese. A priest is said to be incardinated when he belongs to a particular diocese or personal prelature. Excardination means the priest has been freed from the jurisdiction of his superior to be incardinated elsewhere. This was a big concern immediately after Vatican II. The situation was not fully understood. We now know that we are in a state of sedevacante, so priests and bishops can function by means of supplied jurisdiction until such time as the Church should return to Her usual mode of operation. The position of the so-called "Home Aloners," contending that you must stay "home alone" due to a lack of Ordinary jurisdiction in this time of near universal apostasy, is just pure theological ignorance many times discredited. ---Introibo]
Bp. Kurz and Vatican II
In 1959, Angelo Roncalli ("Pope" John XXIII) called for an ecumenical council. This would be the beginning of the Great Apostasy. Bp. Kurz was entitled to attend. His Excellency called on Fr. DePauw to be his peritus (i.e., "theological expert") at the council. Father was now a canon lawyer, having obtained his doctorate in canon law (JCD) from Catholic University, Washington DC in 1955. He had been incardinated into the Archdiocese of Baltimore, where he was in charge of admissions, as well as professor of Canon Law, Moral Theology, and Latin at Mount St. Mary's Seminary. However, in December of 1961, Archbishop Francis Keough died and was replaced by "gay friendly" Lawrence Shehan from Bridgeport, Connecticut. His first act as the new Archbishop was to remove Fr. DePauw from his position in charge of admissions and appoint a Modernist priest who was "pastoral" to those who feel attracted to the same sex and think they may have a "vocation."
Bp. Kurz fought along side Cardinal Ottaviani and the other anti-Modernists with Fr. DePauw at his side. The bishop was told by Arch-Modernist Frings to "fall in line" with the Rhineland bishops and their heretical novelties, to which he replied he would never abandon the Catholic Faith. He even tried (in vain) to convince Leo Cardinal Suenens of Belgium to "come back to the Faith and leave those lousy traitors [i.e., the Modernists]" While most of the prelates stayed at the finest hotels in Rome, Bp. Kurz, ever mindful of the evangelical counsel of poverty, chose to stay at Villa Maria Regina, which at that time was a guest house of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Rome.
After the Council, Bp. Kurz was broken in spirit. Lest anyone start throwing stones, this was an unprecedented time of near universal apostasy, and he didn't know how to react. He was open to the idea of sedevacantism as his ordination of Gunther Storch to the priesthood clearly demonstrates. Storch was later consecrated a bishop by Abp. Thuc in the 1980s. On December 31, 1964, Fr. DePauw sent his Catholic Traditionalist Manifesto to every single Catholic bishop in the world, asking them to join him in preserving the Traditional Mass and "That, while truly respecting all non-Catholics who follow their conscience into what in candid honesty we must continue to call objective errors or partial truths, our bishops, priests, religious and laity alike renew their truly ecumenical efforts to proclaim the full unadulterated doctrine of Christ's Catholic Church in a world that desperately needs it." ---a slap at heretical ecumenism! Of the nearly 2,000 bishops, only Cardinals Ottaviani, Bacci, and Bishop Kurz publicly supported it and the newly founded "Catholic Traditionalist Movement" (aka "CTM").
When Fr. DePauw was ordered by Shehan to disband the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, Bishop Kurz intervened. With the help of Cardinal Ottaviani, Shehan signed the excardination papers for Fr. DePauw, and he was incardinated into the Diocese of Tivoli, Italy. The bishop of Tivoli then allowed Father to be incardinated under the direct episcopal jurisdiction of Bp. Kurz, who immediately ordered Fr. DePauw to continue his work with the CTM. "Cardinal" Shehan was furious! He denied signing the excardination papers and "suspended" Fr. DePauw. Bp. Kurz went toe to toe with Shehan, and on January 17, 1966 made the following public declaration carried by the news media; it read in pertinent part:
"I consider any attack on Father DePauw, at whatever the source or with whatever person that attack may originate, as an attack on my personal integrity as a bishop of the Catholic Church. I most solemnly declare that the statements released by Father DePauw to the media [about his being incardinated with Bp. Kurz after release by Shehan--Introibo] ...contain the truth and nothing but the truth." Then on May 22, 1966 at the Garden City Hotel in Long Island, NY, Bishop Kurz made the following historical step at a press conference when he stated to the world: "I recommend the Catholic Traditionalist Movement to all Catholics willing to defend our Church. While the active leadership of the Catholic Traditionalist Movement will remain with Father De Pauw, I have today accepted the position offered me by that Movement's Board of Directors, and will henceforth publicly function as Bishop-Moderator of the Catholic Traditionalist Movement."
Not one bishop was willing to join him! Bishop Kurz consecrated the Ave Maria Chapel in Westbury, NY on August 10, 1968. Fr. DePauw had purchased the Chapel from an Eastern Orthodox bishop who wanted to sell and move elsewhere. In 1968, 1969, and 1970, he administered Confirmation to all members of the CTM who needed it. He returned to West Germany, where he was despised by the German Modernists. They sought to have his faculties removed by their Satanic leader, Montini ("Pope" Paul VI). That never happened, as Montini did not want to make a martyr out of a brave missionary bishop, now in his 70s. Bp. Kurz refused to say the Novus Bogus, and publicly offered only the True Mass and Sacraments for small groups of German Traditionalists.
Fr. DePauw had built a beautiful Bishop's Residence across the street from the Chapel (which still stands unoccupied to this day) and invited Bp. Kurz to spend the rest of his days at the Chapel and not deal with the relentless heretics in his native Germany. Bishop Kurz agreed, only to fall suddenly very ill and unable to travel. When the good bishop asked Abp. Lefebvre, who started the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in 1970, to fill in for him and Confirm at the Ave Maria Chapel, the Archbishop responded in a letter to Fr. DePauw: "As far as Confirmation is concerned, it is clear that this is a very delicate thing for me to do…I have to be very prudent in this area." He ultimately declined to help a bishop who fought by his side at Vatican II. While I respect all the Archbishop has done, please remember this when the SSPX harps on how fearless Lefebvre was and how cowardly were all other bishops.
Bp. Kurz died in West Germany on December 13, 1973, at the age of 79. He never was able to set foot in his residence at Westbury, a place fit for a bishop. He was buried in the cemetery of the Franciscan seminary where he had been ordained to the priesthood 54 years earlier. He was placed in a grave with some 20 other Franciscan missionaries bearing the simple epitaph of "Missionary Bishop of China." No mention of his 54 years of service and suffering for the Church, and no mention of his defense of the True Faith and Church as Moderator of the CTM.(What else could be expected?) It's been said the truly great ones are the truly humble ones, so I guess it's only fitting that he was laid to rest as humbly as he lived his life, in imitation of Our Lord.
When Fr. DePauw was ordered by Shehan to disband the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, Bishop Kurz intervened. With the help of Cardinal Ottaviani, Shehan signed the excardination papers for Fr. DePauw, and he was incardinated into the Diocese of Tivoli, Italy. The bishop of Tivoli then allowed Father to be incardinated under the direct episcopal jurisdiction of Bp. Kurz, who immediately ordered Fr. DePauw to continue his work with the CTM. "Cardinal" Shehan was furious! He denied signing the excardination papers and "suspended" Fr. DePauw. Bp. Kurz went toe to toe with Shehan, and on January 17, 1966 made the following public declaration carried by the news media; it read in pertinent part:
"I consider any attack on Father DePauw, at whatever the source or with whatever person that attack may originate, as an attack on my personal integrity as a bishop of the Catholic Church. I most solemnly declare that the statements released by Father DePauw to the media [about his being incardinated with Bp. Kurz after release by Shehan--Introibo] ...contain the truth and nothing but the truth." Then on May 22, 1966 at the Garden City Hotel in Long Island, NY, Bishop Kurz made the following historical step at a press conference when he stated to the world: "I recommend the Catholic Traditionalist Movement to all Catholics willing to defend our Church. While the active leadership of the Catholic Traditionalist Movement will remain with Father De Pauw, I have today accepted the position offered me by that Movement's Board of Directors, and will henceforth publicly function as Bishop-Moderator of the Catholic Traditionalist Movement."
Not one bishop was willing to join him! Bishop Kurz consecrated the Ave Maria Chapel in Westbury, NY on August 10, 1968. Fr. DePauw had purchased the Chapel from an Eastern Orthodox bishop who wanted to sell and move elsewhere. In 1968, 1969, and 1970, he administered Confirmation to all members of the CTM who needed it. He returned to West Germany, where he was despised by the German Modernists. They sought to have his faculties removed by their Satanic leader, Montini ("Pope" Paul VI). That never happened, as Montini did not want to make a martyr out of a brave missionary bishop, now in his 70s. Bp. Kurz refused to say the Novus Bogus, and publicly offered only the True Mass and Sacraments for small groups of German Traditionalists.
Fr. DePauw had built a beautiful Bishop's Residence across the street from the Chapel (which still stands unoccupied to this day) and invited Bp. Kurz to spend the rest of his days at the Chapel and not deal with the relentless heretics in his native Germany. Bishop Kurz agreed, only to fall suddenly very ill and unable to travel. When the good bishop asked Abp. Lefebvre, who started the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) in 1970, to fill in for him and Confirm at the Ave Maria Chapel, the Archbishop responded in a letter to Fr. DePauw: "As far as Confirmation is concerned, it is clear that this is a very delicate thing for me to do…I have to be very prudent in this area." He ultimately declined to help a bishop who fought by his side at Vatican II. While I respect all the Archbishop has done, please remember this when the SSPX harps on how fearless Lefebvre was and how cowardly were all other bishops.
Bp. Kurz died in West Germany on December 13, 1973, at the age of 79. He never was able to set foot in his residence at Westbury, a place fit for a bishop. He was buried in the cemetery of the Franciscan seminary where he had been ordained to the priesthood 54 years earlier. He was placed in a grave with some 20 other Franciscan missionaries bearing the simple epitaph of "Missionary Bishop of China." No mention of his 54 years of service and suffering for the Church, and no mention of his defense of the True Faith and Church as Moderator of the CTM.(What else could be expected?) It's been said the truly great ones are the truly humble ones, so I guess it's only fitting that he was laid to rest as humbly as he lived his life, in imitation of Our Lord.
Answering "Monday Morning Quarterback" Critics
- Didn't Bp. Kurz recognize the false post-Vatican II popes? Yes, but he was open to sedevacantism from the very start. He never obeyed their evil laws, he rejected the errors of Vatican II, and was proud of the fact that he NEVER (not even once) said the Novus Bogus bread and wine service. He offered the True Mass his whole life exclusively. He remarked that "the greatest thing I ever did was what I didn't do"--say the invalid abomination that was called a "mass" and produced by Vatican II. This was a novel situation. Had he lived longer into the Great Apostasy, I believe he would have been a sedevacantist. He called the Vatican II sect apostates (and those who claimed to be anti-Modernists but wouldn't stand up with him) "dirty rats who have for all times forfeited their right to be called Catholic bishops." It is my personal belief that Fr. DePauw was a sedevacantist since at least 1999 (he was my spiritual father, whom I knew very well).
- Why didn't he ordain priests and consecrate bishops? He did ordain two priests from seminaries taken over by Modernists--one being the sedevacantist Bp. Gunther Storch. He died less than ten years into the Vatican II sect's creation. People are great at telling others what should have been done after the fact, and when they weren't there and privy to all the circumstances of the day. It's no different than the "armchair quarterback" who tells everyone on Monday what the losing Superbowl quarterback "should have done" to win the game yesterday.
- How can he be said to have any real significance? A Traditionalist priest I admire and respect very much honestly said to me, "If it hadn't been for that (Fr. DePauw and Bp. Kurz), I wouldn't be a priest today." Father and the good bishop led the way for Lefebvre, Thuc, Mendez, and the others to follow. They were the first to sound the alarm and fight the good fight. Contrary to what many believe, who knows what bishops would have come forth if they had not encouraged all to follow them in open rebellion against the Modernist Vatican II sect?!
Fifty years ago, a very brave successor of the Apostles stood up for a very brave priest in a fight for "Truth and Tradition." It's my pious belief that should the Church be restored to Her former glory with a True Pope, we will see the feast days of St. Gommar of Westbury and St. Blaise of Sontheim. If it is God's Will that this mess shall remain until Christ returns in Glory, I can't help but think that Father and His Excellency are together smiling down upon all of us Traditionalists, as we try to fight the good fight. It was God Who inspired them to start this battle just over a half century ago; a battle we continue today. I admit that I get upset when Fr. DePauw--and even to a greater degree, Bp. Kurz--get ignored for their rightful role in keeping the True Faith alive in the wake of Vatican II. However, I remember that all the heroic good deeds they did are remembered by God. In the end, isn't that all that really matters for any of us?
Great article and we must accept it wasn't God's will for Archbishop Kurz to consecrate a traditional Bishop.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do not deserve truly Catholic and holy and good bishops. The Trady bishops we have is about what we deserve...as Bishop Kurz once famously said, "the whole thing stinks to hell", and I would wholeheartedly agree with that assessment even now.
ReplyDeleteWe have many good and holy Traditionalist bishops. Bp. Santay of the SSPV being but one example. Bp. Kurz made that remark, not about Traditionalists, but about the situation in 1965 when Card Shehan was conspiring with Abp. Felici to keep Fr DePauw out of the last session of the Council as Bp Kurz' peritus. Those Modernists and their machinations was what "stinks to Hell."
Delete---Introibo
I personally know 2 traditional priest's and 1 Bishop who are honest holy cleric's.Not sure why you are so down and insulting towards the remnant clergy?
DeleteHi, I don't know you yet, but I'm getting ready to leave the FSSP to join with Sedevacantists or stay at home.( I have been reading Teresa Benn's site) I see your point about ordinary jurisdiction but what about the encyclical by PiusVII Vacantis Apostolicus Sedis?
ReplyDeletePiusVII makes it clear that during an interregnum nothing that a pope does can be done by someone else. Some examples given: consecrating bishops, establishing seminaries, and supplying jurisdiction. Then Pius goes on to say if they do happen we should consider them null and void.That puts us all in a sticky spot without bishops or priests.I don't see my way around that, so I sit on the fence and wonder what to do. Since I'm a protestant convert, I also question myself and doubt my own judgement because I have so often been wrong.
You have obviously thought of these things and I'd appreciate your input.
Sincerely,
Daryl e-mail: Morboats@gmail.com
Hi Anja,
DeleteCongratulations on leaving the false sect of Vatican 2! Please don't stay at "home alone." Read my post of this week (7/4/16). Mrs. Benns is NOT trustworthy and we must not rely on her!
As to the legislation of Pope Pius XII, she has misinterpreted it.
You confuse:
1. The mandatum: the papal document granting permission for the consecration of a bishop who will serve as a bishop in any capacity, including as an auxiliary or titular bishop, and
2. The canonical appointment: a papal decree designating a bishop as Ordinary (or "residential bishop") of a duly constituted diocese, which appointment auxiliary and titular bishops did not receive.
The canonist Fr. Eduardo Regatillo, in his Institutiones Juris Canonici (Santander: Sal Terrae 1956), 2:600, states that the 1951 decree affects only bishops consecrated without papal appointment to be heads of dioceses.
"Anyone who is to be promoted to the episcopacy needs the canonical appointment by which he is constituted Bishop of a such a vacant diocese.
"In practice, it may be doubted whether only those who are to be consecrated residential Bishops are affected - that is, those who are consecrated for a diocese now in existence - or also titular bishops (who are created for an extinct see or diocese), or bishops who are consecrated for no diocese.
"From the purpose intended by the Holy Office, the decree appears to cover only those who are consecrated as residential bishops, for this is the actual case which the Holy See intends to condemn..
"This new type [of offense] differs from the one mentioned in canon 2370, where the canon refers to consecrations performed without apostolic mandate (described in canon 953). The new decree, on the other hand, punishes consecrations performed without pontifical appointment.
"An appointment designates the person and bestows the title [to an office]. A mandate grants the permission to confer the consecration"
Traditional Catholic bishops are consecrated for no diocese. One cannot claim, therefore, that the 1951 Decree applies to them.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me. I'll use an anonymous email to send this info to you which you may use. I'll be praying for you, and congratulations on discovering the True Faith!
---Introibo
Furthermore, A human legislator -- in this case, the Pope -- can never foresee all possible circumstances, and human laws, even in the Church, are not meant to address all possible scenarios but are typically made only for ordinary circumstances.
DeleteIn his monumental 4-volume work on moral and pastoral theology, Fr. Henry Davis discusses this: "[N]o human legislator can possibly foresee all circumstances", he writes, and clarifies that church law "need not be fulfilled ... if it has become impossible, or harmful, or unreasonable, or useless in general" (Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology, vol. 1, pp. 188, 168; italics added).
Neither the 1951 declaration or 1958 decree from Pope Pius XII was meant to cover such an extraordinary situation
---Introibo
Your article today about staying home alone was excellent.
DeleteNot many people tackle this subject and the home alone sites receive unspoken credibility as a result.
Good job and keep up the great work.God bless you all.
Thank you my friend!
Delete---Introibo
Just an informal note of gratitude for your excellent website. Long may it continue to occupy a place on my highly selective Favourites Bar.
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations for refusing to comply with one of the scourges of the modern world - the impertinent insistence on providing ID on demand.
Sound arguments for the True Faith stand on their own merits.
By preserving your anonymity it's as though your (our) opponents are saying " We have no rational response so, as a last resort, we'd like to use the argumentum ad hominem, but you won't let us!"
Thank you for the kind words, my friend! You make a good point that my anonymity keeps the focus off me (as it should). I seek neither "fame" nor to subject my family and friends to the scoffing and discrimination of the enemies of our Faith.
DeleteBe ever assured of my prayers!
---Introibo
I knew Fr.Gommar Depauw very well. He was my spiritual advisor and my friend. I have some Theology books of his that he gave me. I wouldn't be a priest today if it weren't for Fr. Depauw.
ReplyDeleteThat’s wonderful Father! I knew him quite well myself, having converted me at age 16. I attended Mass at his Chapel for a almost 25 years until his holy passing. He was my spiritual Father as well. May I ask who ordained you and where you have your Church/Chapel?
Delete—-Introibo
Fr.DePauw ever say why Bp.Kurz didn't Consecrate him as a Bishop?
ReplyDelete-Andrew
Andrew,
DeleteBp. Kurz died in 1973, just nine years after the Great Apostasy. He thought things would go back or “self-correct.” He was open to Sedevacantism but not entirely sure. Hence, no consecration.
—-Introibo
Hi, Greetings... great article. It's a pity he only has a Wikipedia page in German.
ReplyDeleteBut I think Bp. Günther Storck was consecrated by Bp. Guérard des Lauriers on 30 April 1984, not by Bp. Ngô Đình Thục.
This was a very interesting article, thank you. I did not know about this Bishop before. There is so much to learn in the Catholic world of sedevacantism. What wonderful heroes we have missed out on for so long. I would like to know more about Gunther Storck.
ReplyDeleteAccording to “Light on the OSJ”, by Anthony Cekada, DePauw joined a heretical organization called the "Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem" (OSJ) and served as a minister in it. The paper is recommended by Novus Ordo Watch, the foremost Sedevacantist site on the internet. See this twitter thread: https://twitter.com/HereIsJorge/status/1408232712415158274
ReplyDeleteThe OSJ was openly heretical in 1964, because it published in that year "An Account of the Old Roman Catholic Church" equating the so-called “Old Roman Catholic Church” with the true Catholic Church. As you know, the “Old Roman Catholics” are heretics who reject Papal Infallibility, among other Catholic doctrine. In 1968, well after the OSJ had publicly espoused this heresy, DePauw served as a "Knight-Commander of Justice, Prior, Chaplain" in the OSJ and as the "Coordinator and Dean of the Roman Catholic Section" of the OSJ's "Ecclesiastical Tribunal". The OSJ is listed, on the sign in the photo, as the protector of DePauw’s operation.
Didn’t DePauw lose his office in the Catholic Church through Communicatio in Sacris by joining the heretical sect (the OSJ) and accepting a position in it? Since there was no Pope and no valid Holy See by the 1960s to absolve DePauw for this, how could DePauw have continued to serve as a Catholic priest?
@anon4:12
DeleteThere are some things that Fr. Cekada gets all wrong. Una Cum, not receiving Holy Viaticum from a valid SSPX priest because the Host is somehow "tainted" by the Una Cum, using pre-Pian Holy Week, and Fr. DePauw. There is much behind that story not known to Fr. Cekada or Mr. Derksen.
I am not at liberty to share it, so you can take my word for it or not. I know that the charge against Fr DePauw is FALSE. However, since he did have affiliation with them , and to remove any scruple of conscience from those who wanted to join the Catholic Traditionalist Movement, Father abjured them in the external forum to Bp. Kurz (who was never involved with the group) and enjoyed Ordinary Jurisdiction from Pope Pius XII and had faculties to do so.
Hence, Father was OK on all counts. However, you sound like the Home Aloners. If any priest, through human frailty, etc., offered the Novus Bogus "mass"--even once--they are unable to be absolved and can't function. The problem means that, if true, sins especially reserved to the Holy See could NEVER be forgiven and you are surely destined for Hell no matter how repentant. Obviously, this is not the intent of the legislator, so the law ceases to bind as long as a public abjuration is made so people know.
Take the sad case of Teresa Benns, the nut who engineered the farmhouse "conclave" which produced antipope Michael and lead 100 people outside the Church. The conclave method of election never included women (three out of the six "electors" were women) and it did not follow the exact procedures promulgated by Pope Pius XII.
Benns created a new sect, putting her outside the Church. To whom, in the 1990s, did she give her abjuration? Either the law ceased to bind or she's doomed to Hell.
---Introibo
Did Bishop Kurz sign VII documents? I read somewhere he did not but cannot verify. Can you also elaborate on the comment above re NO mess? Very interesting. A true priest who then offered the NO cannot be absolved from the sacrilege of offering the NO?
ReplyDelete"If any priest, through human frailty, etc., offered the Novus Bogus "mass"--even once--they are unable to be absolved and can't function."