|
Post by guillaume on Jan 30, 2009 13:07:43 GMT
From his blog : dinoscopus.blogspot.com/2009/01/letter.htmlFollowing in the steps of Our Lord (Jn. XVIII, 23) and St. Paul (Acts, XXIII, 5), Archbishop Lefebvre gave his Society the example of never so cleaving to God's Truth as to abandon respect for the men holding God's Authority. In the midst of last week's media uproar, surely aimed rather at the Holy Father than at a relatively insignificant bishop, here is a letter written to Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos on January 28 by that bishop:
To His Eminence Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos
Your Eminence
Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept, only as is properly respectful, my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems.
For me, all that matters is the Truth Incarnate, and the interests of His one true Church, through which alone we can save our souls and give eternal glory, in our little way, to Almighty God. So I have only one comment, from the prophet Jonas, I, 12:
"Take me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you."
Please also accept, and convey to the Holy Father, my sincere personal thanks for the document signed last Wednesday and made public on Saturday. Most humbly I will offer a Mass for both of you.
Sincerely yours in Christ
+Richard Williamson
|
|
|
Post by hibernicus on Jan 30, 2009 13:27:03 GMT
This is a pretty weak apology, and portrays himself as nobly self-sacrificing for the greater good. It is not a question of one set of imprudent remarks; he has been venting his vanity and misogyny for decades and making traditionalist Catholicism a scandal and a laughing-stock. I hope he takes up the full implications of the comparison to Jonah; the storm was sent because Jonah had not obeyed the obligation which God had placed on him, but ran away from doing his duty.
|
|
|
Post by Beinidict Ó Niaidh on Feb 18, 2009 15:45:55 GMT
Has he a firm purpose of amendment?
|
|
|
Post by hibernicus on Feb 19, 2009 0:13:22 GMT
The current issue of the NEW STATESMAN has a really hysterical article by John Cornwell seizing on the Williamson debacle to insinuate that the Pope is an anti-semite, and which ends by suggesting that the Pope wishes to have a new set of fascist governments in Europe so he can co-operate with them. Maybe Williamson and Crnwell should go off and join the Free Presbyterians. On second thoughts, that remark is unfair - to the Free Presbyterians.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Donovan on Feb 19, 2009 23:04:27 GMT
The current issue of the NEW STATESMAN has a really hysterical article by John Cornwell seizing on the Williamson debacle to insinuate that the Pope is an anti-semite. Cornwell is as much parti pris (Guillaume, please translate) as John Cooney, and his analyses are therefore equally worthless in real life.
|
|
|
Post by guillaume on Feb 20, 2009 0:59:00 GMT
|
|
|
Post by hibernicus on Feb 20, 2009 12:37:00 GMT
Jonah finds himself being taken at his word! To be honest, this was to be expected; there were connections between the SSPX and the bloody Argentine dictatorship of the 1970s (which presented its secret police and torture chambers as the last line of defence against communism) and the current Argentine Peronist government is very anti-clerical so I'm surprised something like this hasn't happened already. Rorate Caeli has opened a thread (where holocaust deniers are to be found in abundance hailing him as a martyr) speculating where he will go next. They don't seem to realsie he can't return to the US as he has already been kicked out of it, but they point out that if he goes to the UK (where he is a citizen and can't be refused entry) he would run the risk of being extradited to Germany to stand trial for his holocaust denial. They seem to think the SSPX seminary in the Philippines is his likeliest next stop. Some unkind souls have suggested he should go to Iran and finds out what it's REALLY like to be a martyr; the chances of his converting the Iranians and thier converting him seem about equal.
|
|
|
Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Feb 20, 2009 12:51:43 GMT
According to the Austrian Service kath.net, an SSPX priest speaking on German television said the society had given Bishop Williamson until the end of the month (that would be next Saturdy, 28/2) to recant or face expulsion.
I don't believe it, but I also can't see how the Holy See can receive him as a bishop given there are less and less places he can actually go to.
|
|
|
Post by Michael O'Donovan on Feb 23, 2009 19:53:00 GMT
According to the Austrian Service kath.net, an SSPX priest speaking on German television said the society had given Bishop Williamson until the end of the month (that would be next Saturdy, 28/2) to recant or face expulsion. I don't believe it. I'm not so sure. There may be a calculation on the part of Bishop Fellay that Bishop Williamson, if expelled, might draw off the bulk of the irreconcilables with him and make it easier for the rest to come to an accommodation with Rome. But I'm aware that if I start speculating like that I risk sounding like the good bishop himself and seeing conspiracies everywhere. How long before one of his supporters decides that Bishop Fellay is a Freemason and the natural son of Annibale Bugnini?
|
|
|
Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Feb 25, 2009 10:14:50 GMT
According to the Austrian Service kath.net, an SSPX priest speaking on German television said the society had given Bishop Williamson until the end of the month (that would be next Saturdy, 28/2) to recant or face expulsion. I don't believe it. I'm not so sure. There may be a calculation on the part of Bishop Fellay that Bishop Williamson, if expelled, might draw off the bulk of the irreconcilables with him and make it easier for the rest to come to an accommodation with Rome. But I'm aware that if I start speculating like that I risk sounding like the good bishop himself and seeing conspiracies everywhere. How long before one of his supporters decides that Bishop Fellay is a Freemason and the natural son of Annibale Bugnini? It's only a matter of time. But Rome does not want to see Dickie Williamson just disappear into the sunset in episcopal orders.
|
|
|
Post by guillaume on Feb 25, 2009 21:47:07 GMT
I'm not so sure. There may be a calculation on the part of Bishop Fellay that Bishop Williamson, if expelled, might draw off the bulk of the irreconcilables with him and make it easier for the rest to come to an accommodation with Rome. But I'm aware that if I start speculating like that I risk sounding like the good bishop himself and seeing conspiracies everywhere. How long before one of his supporters decides that Bishop Fellay is a Freemason and the natural son of Annibale Bugnini? It's only a matter of time. But Rome does not want to see Dickie Williamson just disappear into the sunset in episcopal orders. BP Williamson had now left Argentina and He is in England now, i think.
|
|
|
Post by hibernicus on Feb 26, 2009 11:54:32 GMT
One of the posters on Damian Thompson's blog blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/02/25/bishop_williamson_is_in_britain_traditionalists_should_avoid_him_like_the_plague has a nice take on this:- We all know that Williamson does not exist. Never mind that people say they have seen him, they are in the pay of a vast conspiracy. All his documents have been forged to prove his existence, all records mentioning him have been fabricated, all who have studied him , many all their lives , are obviously mistaken. They lack integrity, are not intelligent, or are bribed. He has been invented as a stick with which to beat Catholicism. Indeed his existence is all "Lies, lies, lies". independent February 25, 2009 01:43 PM GMT
|
|
|
Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Feb 26, 2009 15:18:11 GMT
Yes - I read 'independent's' comments - hillarious.
What surprises me is how much in denial some of Dinoscopus'es supporters actually are, with comments about a 'saintly bishop'. Not too different from the incorrigible liberal who commented on Nathan O'Halloran SJ's blog about the slander against a saintly priest like Fr Drinan.
Of course the Rev & Hon Congressman Drinan SJ is much worse than Bishop Williamson in that he is the figleave for any Catholic US Congressman voting for abortion, but that does not make the Bishop's weird views any less obnoxious.
|
|
|
Post by hibernicus on Feb 26, 2009 17:16:45 GMT
The Daily telegraph today has a brief item which quotes David Irving claiming that Williamson has now got in touch with him for advice on presenting his views. Irving proclaims Williamson is no more a holocaust denier than he is. Mark Shea has a very good post on the full horrors implicit in Williamson's claims:- markshea.blogspot.com/2009/02/assassins-of-memory.html
|
|
|
Post by Alaisdir Ua Séaghdha on Feb 27, 2009 10:12:26 GMT
I see Bishop Williamson has another apology out, which does not amount to a retraction. Whatever about the SSPX, it will not satisfy the Holy See.
One of the people who met him in Heathrow Airport with a bevy of lawyer was Lady Michele Renouf, an extremely presentable and wealthy supporter of Holocaust Deniers who was a special guest at the infamous conference in Tehran on the subject a couple of years ago.
You know what they say about knowing a man by the company he keeps.
|
|