The secretary general of the Saint Pius X Society has ordered Bishop Richard Williamson to shut up for real this time. A year or so ago when Bishop Williamson made embarrasing worldwide headlines questioning the holocaust, the SSPX prohibited him from speaking on the subject anymore.
Now in advance of his trial in Germany for holocaust denial, the SSPX is telling to stop talking and writing, period.
BERLIN – A breakaway ultra-conservative Catholic group ordered British bishop Richard Williamson not to speak in public or testify at his trial for denying the Holocaust, German media reported Thursday.
The secretary general of the Saint Pius X Society, Father Christian Thouvenot, wrote to Williamson, a leading member of the group, telling him to stop giving interviews or communicating publicly, according to the daily Tagesspiegel, which obtained a copy of the letter.
Williamson’s lawyer, Matthias Lossman, on Wednesday confirmed that the bishop, who lives in London, would not attend his trial which opens in the southern German city of Regensburg on Friday
The society told Williamson to “stop communicating by Internet, be it by blog, forum or via his web page,” the Tagesspiegel said.
He has also been ordered not to give interviews on general issues, and only to speak on matters of faith after obtaining permission from the society.
With the world media in full attack mode on the Church and the Pope these days, this is a very prudent move by the SSPX. All it would take is one ridiculous statement by a man who has made a career out of ridiculous statements to severely harm the Church.
While the move is also in the proper self-interest of the SSPX — theological discussions between the Vatican and the SSPX have been ongoing for months now and have been handled in a quiet and discreet manner and any wayward comment might derail the talks–I applaud the SSPX for the wise move.
April 15, 2010 at 3:55 pm
The relevant point is not any fascination with the numbers. It is freedom of speech versus hate-crime laws, because those laws are being used against Catholic moral teaching. In Europe and Canada, a priest cannot preach against active homosexuality, and Obama has just added that class to hate-speech law in the US.
April 15, 2010 at 4:03 pm
He doesn't just "deny the holocaust".
He believes Jews are the enemies of Christ, that they are responsible for the corruption of the Catholic Church and that they are trying to take over the world.
He is an embarrassment whether he speaks or not.
April 15, 2010 at 4:41 pm
This was indeed a laudible move on the part of the SSPX. But the laudible turns to laughible when you consider they were never big on obedience to begin with, hence the current schism. So, it remains to be seen if Williamson will obey his superiors, or splinter off into yet another group. Maybe the Society for Catholic anti-Zionists of the Blessed Heart.
April 15, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I think those responding to this blog need to address the appropriate context of the article. It is about a man who is wrong and he is being told by his community to cease and desist. He is obliged to be obedient to Fellay and his fellow SSPX. Let us pray too that the SSPX will be able to come back into the fold under the Holy Father and that Catholics stop being split all over the place. We need to be all speaking with one voice – that of the voice of Christ. This is so important for today's very growing pagan society. We need to stand up for Christ together as One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. As such, we should remember that Christ Himself is our true example of obedience – He is God, yet His obedience to His Father in spite of all that He suffered and died is our true and only example of how to act. This wonderful season of Easter (Pascha), let us all rejoice and be happy that we have such a wonderful savior as our pure example of what we all should become.
Many blessings to all.
April 15, 2010 at 5:19 pm
What strikes me about the whole thing is that the SSPX, who are eternally critical of the Vatican for being slow to punish liberal Bishops, take their good ole time when it comes to disciplining their own. While they attack the Pope for being soft on Bishops, when Bishop Williamson made the stupid comments last year Bishop Fellay immediately took a soft, slow, wimpy approach to disciplining him.
April 15, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I think Maggie stated it all. We have trained ourselves to be so critical and in doing so have forgotten that charity is the highest rule. ………………..Response about all the things I didn't detail in this tiny novel in 3…2..1.
April 15, 2010 at 6:32 pm
TJB, The Vatican has been "slow to punish liberal bishops"? If the Vatican has punished a liberal bishop in the last 40 years or so, I missed the story. Could you please enlighten us with some examples?
Also, to Sophie who talked about obedience and then said she attends the Trid. Mass exclusively, I see you don't mind reeping the benefits obtained by the SSPX's struggles. Like it or not, every major permission for the Tridentine Mass has come about as a direct result of Vatican relations with the SSPX. The 1984 indult resulted from negotiations. The expanded "Ecclesia Dei" indult of 1998 was a reaction to the episcopal consecrations and was issued on the very same date as the excommunications, and the 2007 Motu resulted from a direct request of the SSPX. The SSPX requested lifting of the exommunications and freeing of the Trid Mass as pre-requisites to negotiations, and the Holy Father agreed. Most local bishops have not been friendly towards the older rite, so, chances are, if you've had access to it, the SSPX won it for you.
April 15, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Is truth important–the answer is yes!Williamson does not deny the holocaust he disagrees with the 6 million figure–so do many people including two Jewish historians Howard M Sachar and Max I Diamont.Truth matters.There should be a debate where all parties present their facts.
April 15, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Why don't Williamson and we better speak about the more than 20 millions Christians dead in the Soviet Union during the Lenin regimen? Apparently nobody cares.
April 15, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Thankfully, someone finally got up the courage to tell this Bishop to be quiet! It's about time.
April 15, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Why does the german journalist call the SSPX "Catholic"?. In this moment they are not catholic.
April 15, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Not Catholic at this moment? Really? What are they?
April 15, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Todoerabueno,
I'll leave it to you to prove the SSPX are not Catholic… Are you kidding?
Steve Sanborn
April 15, 2010 at 10:53 pm
I am the 10:54 AM "Anonymous" and if you saw what I posted before it was removed by an administrator, you would be appalled. I always thought comments that were removed were done so for vulgar or uncouth language or insults. No, instead I suggested that prosecution for "thought crimes" were themselves crimes, and that the hype over Bishop Williamson's remarks about the Holocaust were intended to discredit him with a broad brush — so that his insistence that 911 was an inside job would also be dismissed. But the 911 conspiracy is beginning to unite both the Left and the Right. The administrator who pulls this is fearful of the investigation of Truth. He ought to read John 18:37.
April 15, 2010 at 11:43 pm
It is n ot wise for the church to have a Bishop who denies historic facts as this is a sign of either mental instability or some other intellectual deficiency and that harms the church. Bishop Williamson is sadly deluded. He needs only read the various histories around but he is no doubt too closed minded to do so.
April 15, 2010 at 11:56 pm
<> Just a quick correction to this. In Canada, any priest can preach against active homosexuality from the pulpit. Someone lodged a complaint with a Human Rights Tribunal (these are not courts but are some whacky pseudo court) regarding an evangelical minister regarding comments made and actually won in some way at the Tribunal. But trust me, there are no laws against it in Canada, since you can find stuff in my local diocesan newspaper condemning the homosexual lifestyle – and that is publicly available.
April 15, 2010 at 11:57 pm
The above post was responding to the statement "In Europe and Canada, a priest cannot preach against active homosexuality" from Anonymous posted at 10:55 am.
April 16, 2010 at 12:49 am
The issue in question is what is the truth. Truth being reality. It appears the truth is denied rather than defended by this Bishop. It would've been better if he was silenced for promoting a lie.
April 16, 2010 at 1:20 am
But what about 911 and Italian president Francesco Cossiga's agreement that it was, in fact, perpetrated by the CIA? This would be a MONSTROUS truth (if it IS true, of course) and all postings here are conveniently ignoring Williamson's attempt to find common cause with admittedly anti-Catholic Leftists. Which is, in and of itself, a mark of sincerity. Worrying about the mass murders of the past would pale about the ones being committed AT PRESENT. This is why his unpopularity is being promoted: make ALL of his musings seem unreasonable, and therefore IGNORED.
April 16, 2010 at 2:48 am
His Excellency, Bishop Williamson -may Our Lord and God comfort him in his delusional state- is not well and has not been for some time. It can be reasonably observed that one is not well when that one exhibits an inability to responsibly command that in himself that is the image of his God and Creator: his intellect and his will.
Williamson first failed in his inability to command his INTELLECT in believing and/or co-inventing his many inanities – not limited, by the way, to his disquisitions on the Holocaust.
He then failed in his inability to command his WILL in surrenduring to the temptation to air his inanities in public. Further failures of self control of his will have ensued.
Were he he homeless man, he would be given soup and blankets and urged to take medication. As it is he is a Bishop (no longer excommunicated) of a portion of the Church that enjoys imperfect union with Rome.
His Excellency, Bishop Fellay and Reverend Father Christian Thouvenot, acting in the interest of Holy Mother Church and in the interest of the SSPX, have sanctioned +Williamson in increasing degrees of penalty and in consistant degrees of seriousness.
Their actions are to be lauded as Patrick has done.
Neither the authorities within the SSPX nor anyone else has any access to +Williamson's intellect and therefore has no means to keep him from thinking as he does. That the Society cannot keep him from holding untruths to be self-evident cannot be pinned on the Society or on anyone else for that matter.
But the Society does have and has exercised -gradually and with care- its ability to keep him from excercising his will to promulgate his inanities.
Again, the Society is to be lauded.
Postscript: there remains the uncharitable, but not therefore implausible, possibility that +Williamson is not delusional but entirely lucid. In this scenario his actions could indicate a concerted effort on his part to sabatoge the credibility of the SSPX in general, thereby undermining its and Rome's sincere and ongoing efforts at rapprochement.
Following this theme I return to the only other useful comment above:
from Anonymous: "This will be the beginning of a significant split in the SSPX though. There are thousands and thousands of sspx supporters who are more loyal to +Williamson then any other entity in the Church or SSPX, living or dead. They will see this as a betrayal by +fellay and that the SSPX is 'selling out'. Hold on folks, (who attend SSPX mass centers) it is going to be a rough ride."