Our partners at Adelante La Fe (Rorate in Spanish) today published an exclusive interview with His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider. The answers he gives are very blunt and bold -- even for the great bishop. It's pretty clear even by just skimming his answers that he believes the time has come for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
HEADLINES
“There are many places where priests act more like Protestant ministers than Catholic priests”
“There are families that must travel more than 100 km (60 mi) so that they can go to a dignified Mass and hear sound doctrine”
“The faithful must ask the priests for kneelers so that they can kneel”
“We have a eucharistic-heart disease, and as long as we fail to heal it, the whole body will remain ill and will not produce fruit”
“In today’s climate, it’s a true miracle that we have vocations”
“Gender ideology is a depravity, a final form of Marxism”
“If they can, parents should withdraw their children from schools where they are taught gender ideology”
“There is a mentality of radical relativism within the Church”
“We should speak up so that the Magisterium might speak clearly”
“With moral relativism, especially concerning the reception of Communion by the divorced and remarried, we want God to do our will, and not for us to do His”
“A sacramental female diaconate contradicts the nature of the Church”
“We have to love the pope supernaturally, praying for him, not practicing a form of papolatry”
SSPX – Msgr. Lefebvre
“I am convinced that in the present circumstances, Msgr. Lefebvre would accept the canonical proposal of a personal prelature without hesitation”
“Msgr. Lefebvre is a man with a deep sensus ecclesiae”
“The episcopal ordinations were done in 1988 because in good conscience he thought that he had to do it, as an extreme act, and at the same time said that this situation should not last a long time”
“If you remain canonically autonomous for too long, you run the risk of losing a characteristic of the Catholic Church, that is, to be subject to the pope”
“We cannot make our subjection to the Vicar of Christ dependent upon the person of the pope; this would not be faith. You cannot say that “I don’t believe in this pope, I don’t submit, I am going to wait until one comes along that I like.” This is not Catholic, it is not supernatural; it is human. It is a lack of supernaturality and trust in Divine Providence, that God is the one who guides the Church. This is a danger for the SSPX”
“I have asked Msgr. Fellay not to delay his acceptance any longer, and I trust in Providence, though it is not possible to have 100% certainty”
“It is my great wish that the SSPX might be recognized and established within the regular structure of the Church as soon as possible, and this will be for the benefit of all, for them and for us. Actually it will be a new force in this great battle for the purity of the Faith”
“I have told Msgr. Fellay: “Monsignor, we need your presence to join together with all of the good forces in the Church to achieve this union.”
TRADITIONAL MASS
“The movement to restore the traditional Mass is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is unstoppable”
“If the Fathers of Vatican II witnessed a Mass like the one we know today and a traditional Mass, the majority would say that the traditional Mass is what they want, and not the other”
The traditional liturgy is the liturgy of Vatican II, perhaps with small changes.
