Post by wenceslav on Oct 30, 2017 12:20:48 GMT -5
I did’t want to interrupt the “Palmarian Sect” thread, notwithstanding, many here seem to have a problem with the actions of Archbishop Lefebvre following the second Vatican Council. I am strictly discussing the actions of +Lefebvre and as the name of the thread suggests - The question being addressed is whether a Catholic Bishop (unable to attain the explicit consent of a Roman Pontiff) could consecrate a Bishop (or ordain other priests) to supply the sacraments for the faithful.Can the implicit consent of the Pope be assumed in this case?
Please read the interesting thread from Bellarmine Forums which discusses this. [Source is Here. ]
In this thread John Lane says (wrt the SSPX bishops consecrated by +Lefebvre)
John Lane continues:
Comments
(1) The consecration of the Bishops in 1988 or the previous ordinations of priests from the founding of the Society were manifestly necessary so the faithful could have access to the sacraments. As John describes, such was the case of St. Eusebius in consecrating bishops in sees overtaken by Arian heretics. [It is true that such bishops could then claim ordinary jurisdiction attached to the local See, something which the SSPX could not do]. But the example illustrates the point that (manifest) necessity knows no law.
(1b)The SSPX clergy are not vagrant clergy and it is an injustice to qualify them as such!
(2) “Sacramental Bishops” as John alludes to in his second paragraph do have a precedence in the history of the Catholic Church i.e. in former Czechoslovakia. Pope Pius XII gave special faculties to Bishops to ordain men to the episcopate in the early 1950s. These bishops were not attached to any See and were there to ordain other priests and provide sacraments to the faithful.
Please see interview of Bp. Hnilica in “Fatima, Russia and Pope John Paul II: How Mary Intervened to save Russia” by conservative Catholic author Timothy Tindal-Robertson (pg. 153):
Before escaping, Bp. Hnilica ordained Jan Chrysostom Korec to the episcopate. Bp. Korec was not assigned to any See but fulfilled his episcopal duties by nourishing the faithful with the Sacraments, ordaining other priests and consecrating another canadidate to the episcopal dignity i.e. Dominik Kalata in 1955 - at that time unknown by the Vatican but tacitly approved later. From a recent article from the Vatican press office about Bp. Korec,
URL: press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_korec_jc.html
Please read the interesting thread from Bellarmine Forums which discusses this. [Source is Here. ]
In this thread John Lane says (wrt the SSPX bishops consecrated by +Lefebvre)
They're an historically unprecedented thing. Of course, some have compared them to "vagrant" clergy, but that's not accurate. Vagrant clergy were always created in the face of legitimate authority or unlawfully departed from the government of the Church; our clergy exist as manifestly necessary in an era without active government. The story of St. Eusebius consecrating bishops for Christian communities in the East during a period when their own bishops had disappeared into heresy is a case of manifest necessity also, but of course those bishops were ordinaries, claiming their local see by right, and in no sense vagrants. Our traditionalist bishops are unique precisely because they are neither illegitimate (they have not contravened the law in being consecrated, due to necessity which knows no law) nor are they claiming any territorial jurisdiction.
John Lane continues:
The root cause of the problem is precisely the problematical situation of the Holy See. If Rome had held fast, the problem would be merely local, even if widespread (i.e. even if it affected many or most localities). But "rome" was the source of the problem, the heresy.. The only path to a claim of jurisdiction was to declare the vacancy of the local see and arrange some kind of local election; but one could not realistically do this in the face of the Roman Pontiff: one would have first, or simultaneously, to declare the See of Rome vacant. But this all bishops were reluctant to do, for many reasons, not least of which was the lack of clarity about Paul VI's or JPII's own heresy. So the ambiguity of the situation resulted in a paralysis of any action directed along canonically classical lines. The non-local traditionalist cleric with episcopal orders created only for sacramental ministry was the answer.
Comments
(1) The consecration of the Bishops in 1988 or the previous ordinations of priests from the founding of the Society were manifestly necessary so the faithful could have access to the sacraments. As John describes, such was the case of St. Eusebius in consecrating bishops in sees overtaken by Arian heretics. [It is true that such bishops could then claim ordinary jurisdiction attached to the local See, something which the SSPX could not do]. But the example illustrates the point that (manifest) necessity knows no law.
(1b)The SSPX clergy are not vagrant clergy and it is an injustice to qualify them as such!
(2) “Sacramental Bishops” as John alludes to in his second paragraph do have a precedence in the history of the Catholic Church i.e. in former Czechoslovakia. Pope Pius XII gave special faculties to Bishops to ordain men to the episcopate in the early 1950s. These bishops were not attached to any See and were there to ordain other priests and provide sacraments to the faithful.
Please see interview of Bp. Hnilica in “Fatima, Russia and Pope John Paul II: How Mary Intervened to save Russia” by conservative Catholic author Timothy Tindal-Robertson (pg. 153):
At that time in the basement I [Bp. Hnilica] swore fidelity to Peter with all my heart. You know that every bishop receives a diocese when he is ordained. I was told [by his ordaining bishop], “Your diocese covers Peking-Moscow-Berlin.” This was not meant geographically but symbolically. I didn’t understand it at the time......
Before escaping, Bp. Hnilica ordained Jan Chrysostom Korec to the episcopate. Bp. Korec was not assigned to any See but fulfilled his episcopal duties by nourishing the faithful with the Sacraments, ordaining other priests and consecrating another canadidate to the episcopal dignity i.e. Dominik Kalata in 1955 - at that time unknown by the Vatican but tacitly approved later. From a recent article from the Vatican press office about Bp. Korec,
In a letter sent to the “Pope” [JPII] on 25 March 1990, Bishop Korec repeated his total obedience to the successor of Peter, thanked the Pope for the gift of the pectoral cross, recalling his 38 years of faithful mission lived according to the instructions of Pius XII given in 1951……..
URL: press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/documentation/cardinali_biografie/cardinali_bio_korec_jc.html