Ignoring the Emergency: SSPX Bishop Consecrations, Sedevacantist Bashing...the Usual Hijinks

Where does the road to Rome lead to these days?

Life in the Catholic Church is an upside down pyramid right now. When you want to know doctrines and morals, many times the laity cannot depend upon their priests or bishops to provide any kind of correct guidance. So they look up old catechisms, papal bulls, and the writings of holier men from previous times. Or maybe they’ll listen to the teachings of Catholicism from a podcasting layman, or even the sermons of another priest far away from their parish. This is because the regime in power is busy waxing on and on about synodality, syncretism, and healing each other with their mouths.

When Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for the SSPX in 1988, he did so because at this point, he understood that the Catholic Church was in a state of emergency. From the moment Vatican II transformed into the launchpad for the “synodal” Conciliar Church, Lefebvre recognized that the juridical power structure of Rome was being transformed into something unholy. And thus, he sought to form the SSPX, that he might “keep the pilot light on” for the sane Catholics who refused to throw their patrimony away.

We are living through an emergency like none other. What amazes me are those who fail to recognize the severity of this situation. They completely lack the ability to see the breadth and scope of evil that is overcoming the Catholic structure. It is not enough to just say that this is a willful blindness.

And now I will pick on Eric Sammons.

Mr. Crisis

Eric Sammons released a hilarious new video where he gingerly bashes Sedevacantists—including us “Bennyvacantists” who do not recognize either Bergoglio or Prevost as having been legitimate popes. Completely ignoring the functional decapitation of Christendom and its ongoing, epistemic collapse, he would rather bludgeon any layman trying to make sense of it all.

This is hilarious, because in the video, we see Sammons running a show called Crisis Point on behalf of Crisis Magazine—of which, he is editor-in-chief—and he even admits around the 32-minute mark that this is a time of crisis. And yet…crisis though it may be, we ought to carry on like everything’s running smoothly.

He blathers on that sedes are trapped in an online phenomenon, that he doesn’t really engage in them because he doesn’t want to put his mind in their “system” where everything makes sense to them, that the Lord would never leave the Church without a pope for such a long time, and other things. He accuses sedes of claiming Bergoglio and Prevost are not worthy to be pope, and thus are not pope, and capping it off with:

“That’s what it comes down to. No matter how much they wanna deny it. That’s what it is.”

For Sammons, Bergoglio couldn’t truly be illegitimate until Church authority deems him as illegitimate. So there you go. Off to the clown mass with you. And say “hi” to the altar girls for me. Shouldn’t miss them, the altar rails have been removed, and you’ve got a clear view of the sanctuary where they’re all sitting next to the rainbow flag.

Chris Jackson roasts him properly over at Hiraeth in Exile. Sammons engages in nothing more profound than simplistic, reptile-brain disqualification behavior. Threatened by those who have a keener sensus catholicus, the Crisis-not-crisis Magazine editor is compelled to push the hordes of thinking men back behind the guard rails, policing it and tapping the poles with his baton.

“The postconciliar system has spent decades normalizing doctrinal chaos, liturgical vandalism, disciplinary revolutions, and public scandals while insisting that the sacraments remain available. Then, when some Catholics conclude that the claimants in Rome lack the office, suddenly the same crowd pretends to worry about access to grace. The anxiety appears on cue, always aimed in one direction.”

“[…] he offers a substitute outlet: criticize “sedevacantists,” mock the basement chapels, reassure yourself that the real danger is excessive certainty, and remain safely “in communion” while the postconciliar machine keeps moving.”
-Chris Jackson, ‘No Pope, No Hope’ and the Quietist Pivot, Hiraeth in Exile

Again, I am reminded of The Remnant’s “zip it” policy when it comes to acknowledging open evil and heresy with the current regime. If this movie were The Poseidon Adventure, we’d be at the part where Michael Matt and Sammons are walking down stubbornly, deeper into the underwater part of the capsized ship—only to be drowned out in seawater in the end.

To use another metaphor, vampires are in our house and slowly walking towards us, and men like “Mr. Crisis” are all in a kerfuffle because some of us recognize it’s a hazardous situation, and we’re not under “proper control.” Like the flaccid American Republican Party, such men would rather adjust their bowties and stand there while Count Chocula and Grandpa Munster lean in and take a bite out of their necks.

The rest of us will stand over here, watch, and ask: “Why didn’t they get out of the way?”

SSPX Bishops

I look forward to the Society finally getting some new bishops. I hope they don’t take their foot off the gas. I hope that they go through with their action and make the new bishops. Because Rome is off the rails. More and more every day, the Ape of the Church is manifesting into its solid form in the juridical space where our Catholic Church once was.

I have no doubt that the current regime will use every single delaying tactic they can to prevent the consecration of these bishops—including threats. That, after all, is what they tried to do with Archbishop Lefebvre. By the mid-1980s, Rome knew Lefebvre was aging and that the SSPX had no bishops besides him. Time was their leverage in what was a stalling-and-pressure campaign.

The Vatican’s holding pattern looked like this: they’d reopen doctrinal discussions that never resolved anything, kept framing disagreements as misunderstandings that required dialogue, and kept saying that “normalization” was just around the corner. It was insidious and completely dishonest. At one point, Lefebvre requested several bishops to secure the Society’s continuity. Instead? Rome said they’d give him one bishop, chosen by Rome, and consecrated later under conditions that Rome would define. There were never any fixed dates or binding contracts or any such thing. It was all hinging on trust.

That reminds me, wasn’t the “officially recognized” FSSP—the Society’s rival—supposed to be given a bishop of their own at the start? Oh well. I’m sure it’s just an overlooked misunderstanding. Moving on.

Fortunately for all of us, Lefebvre saw through Rome’s dishonesty and made the consecrations, recognizing the Church’s clear and obvious state of emergency.

Obtuse Outcry

Anthony Stine, over at Return to Tradition, couldn’t help but also notice the nasty, knee-jerk reactions of those people supposedly on “the Catholic side” in this emergency. The real news isn’t the SSPX announcement, but the reaction of various figureheads. Quicker than a Minnesota woman busting into your church, screaming “Shame! Shame!”, gaggles of online Catholics have been yelling “schism!” and “excommunication!”—with outright glee. Nothing’s even happened yet, and we are seeing insane reactions from various quarters of the Catholic world.

I mean, I’ve just spent the last week covering Rome’s slow return to paganism and its project with South American, Indigenist Marxism. And yet, we have people like the Daily Wire’s Brie Dale accusing the Society of formal schism? The Society of schism? Again: hear me out. We have Mexican priests blessing “Saint Death.” We have a regime’s legacy of Pachamama—a demon-mediatrix figure communing with Andean Hell for small favors and spells. We have cocaine-fueled gay orgies in the Vatican. We have an embedded cabal of prelates who allow the Communist Chinese to pick and choose their own bishops for Red China. And Dale accuses the old-fashioned Catholic priests of the SSPX of being in some kind of a schism?

Well, as one of Stine’s commenters said in the video I’m linking to:

“I think ‘schism’ has become a buzz word, and it gets thrown around by people who do not really understand the word.”
- @Half_Dozen_Mom, The Catholic World Responds Harshly To The SSPX’S Huge Announcement, Return to Tradition

Anti-Trads treat papal authority like an absolute oracle. There are distinctions between disobedience, jurisdiction, and formal schism—but these are subtleties and nuances that wannabe gatekeepers can’t grasp. Going back to Eric Sammons, in the com box of his video, someone said they’d like to see a discussion or debate between Sammons and Bishop Sanborn. Mr. Crisis’ reply?

“Did you listen to the podcast? I talked about the futility of such debates.”

So, there’s the mouth-breather for you. Dialogue is beyond them. Ecumenism for everyone but you, Trads.

Conclusions

Rome tolerates illicit bishops and open doctrinal rebellion across the globe. But when it comes to the actual Catholics trying to do the same, it’s “rules for thee, but not for me.” This week, a two-faced Janus worms past Candlemas and into February. Rome, Rome, duplicitous Rome. What will be preached in your great Snake Hall next time, I wonder?

So many are desperate to drop a hammer on the Society—an order that is orthodox and sacrament-centered. The deepest crisis of our time, perhaps worse than Rome’s very betrayal? It is the betrayal of feral sheep against other feral sheep in an abandoned flock. The entire system—the community—punishes Tradition whilst it coddles novelty. Catholics who claim to see the Ape of the Church suddenly cheer when one of the few public resisters gets targeted.

It is suicidal. It was prophesized. It was promised. It was explained. It’s in our Catechism. And yet, people keep missing it.