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 16, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Jimbo-You need some time away from your computer.
April 17, 2010 at 4:08 am
Getting the comments back on topic:
The problem with the fact of the trial is that it points out how tenuous freedom of speech really is. You start by forbidding the expression of ideas that are almost universally agreed to be not only false but offensive. As long as you can maintain such a law, you establish in principle that the larger community can restrict not just offensive words but offensive ideas. Then, eventually, the right of defining "offensive" passes to whoever can most effectively influence the culture and the legislative process.
I'm not comfortable with "thin edge of the wedge" arguments … but we've seen their semi-prophetic quality in re "culture of death" issues, especially contraception and euthanasia. The point isn't whether +Williamson is silly or not for being a Holocaust denier (he is), or whether it matters whether 6 million or "only" 4 million Jews were destroyed (it doesn't). It matters that +Williamson is facing criminal trial for speaking his mind, no matter how deluded that mind is.
This should concern us as Catholics, for it bears a hint that, as the West rots from within from secularist materialism and moral relativism, the costs of bearing witness against the "culture of death" can go much higher. Think of FOCA, sitting on the table in Congress like Anton Chekhov's gun in Act I, with its radical obliteration of conscience protections. Will the gun go off in Act III? And if it does, what havoc will it wreak?
It should not be a crime to not know what you're talking about. (*sigh* Yes, even for Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.)
April 17, 2010 at 7:12 pm
I'm somewhat skeptical of the 6 million figure myself, but to deny Hitler wasn't geneocidal toward the Church, the Jews, the Poles, the Russians and other groups is folly. Why doesn't williamson, as a Catholic, nderstand this? The SSPX was wise to gag him.
April 20, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Scotju, You just expressed the same view as Williamson while accusing him of denying that Hitler was genocidal.
April 22, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Regarding the idea of freedom of speech, I'd like to mention that, at least here in the U.S., we do not enjoy complete freedom of speech. For instance, if an American citizen, or foreigner in the U.S., publically threatens the life of, say, the president of the U.S., then that person will likely be contacted by the FBI. There are also libel laws. So while we enjoy relative freedom of speech here, we do not have complete freedom of speech.
In Germany, the horrific situation which took place there during WWll must always be remembered when it comes to understanding why there is a law against denying the Holocaust. It is not specifically denying the Holocaust that is really the problem. The problem is that there is a certain political and racial motivation (usually) of those who deny the Holocaust, or who question certain aspects of it. Germany, as a country, wants to make sure that National Socialism and its attending evils does not ever gain ground in Germany again. There are some relativley harmless revisionists, but then there are extreme revisionists who are white-supremacists, and some of them would be happy to use violence to gain their ends.
April 23, 2010 at 4:32 pm
The winner of a war determines the "facts" and how important they are. Are there any restrictions in talking about the civilian killings in Ukrane, Japan, Dresden, China, etc., etc., etc.?
April 26, 2010 at 12:23 am
Thanks for this post, Patrick.
I just wanted to respond to the comment by Sophia Guerra above about "religious life" and "religious vows" in the SSPX. In fact, the SSPX are not religious and do not take religious vows. So, yes, of course, obedience is involved in Bishop Williamson's relationship to his superiors, but not in virtue of a vow of religion.
And to the other anonymous poster who criticized censorship as "not Catholic": sorry pal, but censorship is very Catholic – always has been always will be. Why did the Church have something called the index? It all comes down to the weakness of the human intelligence after original sin…
April 27, 2010 at 9:16 pm
It is an insult to SINGLE OUT for memorialization the handful of anti-societal trouble-seeking Jehovah's Witnesses alongside the FIVE MILLION Non-Jewish Holocaust victims given that Jehovah's Witnesses view some of those fellow victims (Homosexuals, Gypsies, etc. ) much as did the Nazis. Additionally, of the 5,000,000 Non-Jewish Holocaust victims, Jehovah's Witnesses constituted the LEAST number of all — less than 1300 persons.
It is ESPECIALLY an insult to memorialize the handful of anti-societal trouble-seeking Jehovah's Witnesses alongside the SIX MILLION Jewish Holocaust victims given that Jehovah's Witnesses view the Jews much as did the Nazis.
The WatchTower Cult teaches its own version of "replacement theology", which says that GOD rejected the Jews as His "chosen people", and replaced them with today's "Jehovah's Witnesses". In fact, the title "Jehovah's Witnesses" was originally applied to the Jews by the Prophet Isaiah, and is even quoted on the wall at the entrance to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. The WatchTower Society, in calling its own members "Jehovah's Witnesses" is attempting to steal that designation away from the Jews. The WatchTower Cult even teaches that all of the Bible's promises of restoration for the Jewish people now belongs to the followers of the Cult.
There were only approximately 6000 Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany during the 1930s-40s. While many of those 6000 German JWs were repeatedly arrested during the 1930s and 1940s, only a fraction were jailed or imprisoned for any significant length of time. Only about 200-300 German JWs lost their lives, and the majority of those died from any number of causes other than having been executed. Approximately 1000 JWs from other European countries lost their lives while incarcerated by the Nazis.
During that same time period, there were more Jehovah's Witnesses arrested and jailed in the United States than in Germany. In fact, from 1941 until 1945, approximately 4500 American Jehovah's Witnesses "elected" to go to prison rather than serve in the U.S. Military and go fight against those same Nazis who were committing those atrocities. Approximately 3000 of those 4500 American JWs were even offered "conscientious objector" status, in which they were offered "non-combatant" work as a substitute, but 99% of those JWs refused to even help that much.
May 19, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Is it okay to attack JW's on this site? The previous post should be deleted.