Over the past tow years I have written many times about Bishop Richard Williamson of the SSPX. I have expended many words and used up many pixels on many screens voicing my concern and dismay over his actions. Most of these words were a terrible waste. I know this because Fr. Ray Blake was able to sum up the whole sorry situation with Williamson more brilliantly in one paragraph than I have in all my ramblings. After describing the general situation with a possible reconciliation with the SSPX Fr. Blake says:
What concerns me is the occasionally brilliant but often loony Bishop Williamson. He is an Englishman, received into the Church in 1971, immediately sought to join the London Oratory, after a few days he was asked to leave. He then went to the SSPX seminary at Econe, was ordained priest in 1976 and has spent the rest of his life denying the holocaust and denouncing the Sound of Music, inventing conspiracy theories, slagging off the Pope and appearing on Youtube. I suspect this man, who has increasingly been pedalling a sede vacantist position, will end up leading the rump of the SSPX into a complete break with Rome.
In a NUTshell. I ought to have my blogging license revoked for a deplorable lack of pith. Fr. Blake has fortunately taken care of it for me.
January 23, 2009 at 7:18 am
Patrick,
If His Excellency is truly mentally disturbed as you say, why do you see fit to mock the poor Bishop? Why do you denounce the ramblings of a man who, according to you, is not possessed of reason, and therefore is not responsible for what he says? Is a little compassion not in order?
~cmpt
January 23, 2009 at 8:22 am
Aw, come on! You may not like Williamson and SSPX but please, please don’t resort to plain lies! Williamson is not a sede vacantist. I remember a whole article by him denouncing sede vacantism as schismatic and untrue. Will dig it up – if it is on the Net – once I get to a proper computer (typing this from the phone).
January 23, 2009 at 12:26 pm
“Bishop” Williamson is not balanced. His cockeyed statements are a hindrance to communion between the Church and the SSPX. The Church is not a democracy nor is the Holy Father obliged to accommodate schismatics and wayward believers who insist that their “authority” trumps that of the pope. Get down on your knees folks and do what the Vicar of Christ says you should do – come home!
January 23, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Here is one of many articles by bp Williamson criticizing sedevacantism: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/9463/svs.html
And here are sedevacantists themselves criticizing bp Williamson for it: http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?catname=12&id=86
So, I think that clearly demonstrates Fr. Blake is ill informed re. bp. Williamson being a sedevacantist.
January 23, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hey, he was right about THE SOUND OF MUSIC!
— Mack
January 23, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Warren, you say, “The Church is not a democracy …”.
Where were you in the sixties when we needed you? đŸ˜€
January 23, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Warren – very well said. 100% agreed.
January 23, 2009 at 5:50 pm
The leftist Catholic bishops have many, many kooks who don’t believe in the Catechism, the primacy of the Pope, and the the sanctity of life. The right has one kook “bishop” who says outrageous things that obviously are not true.
Who is the only one to get called on it?? Doesn’t this remind anyone of the unfair treatment of ethical violations when it comes to the political parties? Joe the Plumber askd 1 question of Obama and he was trashed for owing $1100. Less than 4 months later our Senate confirms a man to the Cabinet who owed over $30,000 in back taxes, made illegal claims on his taxes, and hired an illegal immigrant.
January 23, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Williamson is the Milingo of the Right.
I especially love how the SSPX’ers regard Williamson as some sort of intellectual. Even his pseudo-academic papers are filled with crazy.
He is entertaining though!
January 23, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Just curious– do you guys DELIBERATELY bring up SSPX whenever you think your comboxes are getting too calm? =)
January 23, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Kat,
Were you a regular reader of this blog you would now that most of the time we are calling out the loons on the left. Actually it is our raison d’Ăªtre. But a loon is a loon and we won’t shy away from point out kooks regardless where they fall in the spectrum.
As for Dierdre’s outlandish assertion about combox manipulation, we emphatically ambiguate.
I will say this, however, we certainly don’t miss an opportunity when it arises. Why should Fr. Z have all the fun?
January 23, 2009 at 9:38 pm
His Excellency Bishop Williamson causes more harm for the Society than help.
There’s a fine line between brilliant and insane. Sometimes I wonder if His Excellency forgets which side he is on.
January 24, 2009 at 2:53 pm
peddle
January 25, 2009 at 4:39 am
This is ridiculous; Bishop Williamson may have some odd, conspiratorial beliefs, but he is a great writer and very often insightful. May he be judged for his loyalty and (attempted) service to tradition and the Church, and not for his partial Holocaust denial (I mean, it’s not like he’s lying; he may be wrong, but he is in earnest and is not an anti-Semite.
January 26, 2009 at 6:19 am
Be he not an anti-Semite, then why would he not just unequivocally deny his anti-Semitism instead of saying he didn’t ‘care for the term’, hence skirting around the issue when asked?