The Obama Invite: has Tradition made any progress?

In his reflections on the "Obama invite", Michael Voris speaks of a division in the Church. Traditional Catholics have been aware of this division ever since the early 70s, and many before that, including men like Archbishop Lefebvre, realized that something was dreadfully wrong in the Church Militant following very quickly upon the close of the Second Vatican Council.

This division, quite contrary to what wonks like Bill Donohue, Jeff Mirus, and a plethora of other "conservative" Catholic talking-heads have repeatedly assured us, hasn't been caused by a group who have "misinterpreted Vatican II". This rift has been caused by none other than the very architects of Vatican II and the churchmen who succeeded them. Those misguided reformers weren't hijackers who had been standing on the side-lines, and who took Vatican II as an opportunity to inflict their vision on the Church. The reformers were the bishops and priests who sat through the sessions of the Second Vatican Council and drafted and voted for the Council's documents. It was their vision, the vision of the Vatican II architects and the bishops, that was inflicted on the Church in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

The division and crisis in the Church Militant today is, indeed, a problem. However, the problem is not one primarily of liberal theologians in the universities, feminist nuns on a bus, ignorant or heretical catechists, or hippie priests, though they have all definitely played their roles; rather, the problem is and always has been the bishops who accepted and then defended the ambiguity of the Vatican II documents and that Council's ambivalence to evil. Thus it has been bishops collectively that have acted as the primary catalyst of the crisis, giving place to radical leftist intellectuals in our institutions, destroying the clear transmission of the faith, and creating a sub-culture among priests and religious that is a mockery of everything the priesthood and consecrated life has ever stood for.

The "Obama invite", as Mr. Voris rightly points out, has once again highlighted this sad reality. Devout Catholics are pushed aside, just like traditional Catholics have always been pushed aside ever since the insane liturgical changes of the early 70s. It is becoming clear, at least to me, that the same vandals are still in control, and the same spirit of vandalism runs rampant among our churchmen and their "conservative" apologists. There's no reason for me to get into Archbishop Dolan's woefully inadequate excuse for the invite, nor to say again what has already been well written elsewhere; there's no reason for me address the same pandering apologies for "conservative" Modernism from all the usual talking heads and obfuscating blowhards. Michael Voris' most recent The Vortex videos regarding the invite and these issues, specifically, are posted below for your convenience.

Dolan's actions speak for themselves. His invite is at best hypocritical and stupid, demonstrating Dolan's willingness to cow-tow to powerful men in order to curry their favor; at worst, it demonstrates that Dolan is a Socialist in a collar, objecting only to those things he is obligated to object to, while agreeing in principle with the socialist and death-dealing agenda at the heart of Obama's policies. These things ought to be clear to any honest and objective observer.

However, what concerns me here is the question as to whether traditional Catholicism has really made any inroads over the last few years regarding the Catholic institutions of the Church Militant and the churchmen who occupy the high offices thereof. It is clear that those offices are still occupied by those sympathetic to the Modernist heresy. And make no mistake about it: traditional Catholicism remains vulnerable.

Despite Summorum Pontificum, we have been reminded over the last few days, that the Immortal Mass is still the target of the Modernists in the halls of our Catholic institutions. What happens to devout traditional Catholics when the Vatican promulgates an unacceptable "New Old Missal" that foists on the traditional Catholic communities and Ecclesia Dei fraternities all the liturgical and doctrinal errors that engendered the disastrous novus ordo Missae? Will traditional Catholics be forced out of "full communion" in mass when the Modernist churchmen force us to accept the new prefaces, adopt the new calendar, discard Latin, and turn our priests around to offer the sacrifice to the people instead of to God?

If anything the events of 2012 demonstrate that the crisis is far from a resolution. The appointment of Archbishop Müller as head of the CDF indicates that even the pope, the author of Summorum Pontificum, still embraces the ambiguity of the Vatican II generation. The apparent breakdown in the discussions with the SSPX demonstrates that the Vatican, which will accept the nuns on the bus who deny the divinity of Our Blessed Lord, is unwilling to accept those who wish to fully embrace the Catholic faith as it was understood and practiced for centuries before the ambiguities of the Second Vatican Council emptied our pews, spread dissension and misunderstanding throughout the Church, and gave rise to all manner of liturgical abuses.

The growth of traditional Catholic communities definitely indicates that, at least on the level of evangelism, traditional Catholicism is making striking progress. However, this is to be expected. Truth and beauty are contagious among hearts so disposed to cooperate with the graces that propose them. On the other hand, it would appear that Modernism is still thoroughly entrenched, and even in this hour, fighting back with a demonically renewed vigor.

Perhaps this "Obama invite" will come to nothing, or perhaps it will propel Obama to victory among Catholic voters in November. Either way, it demonstrates that our churchmen, unfazed by the growth and vigor of traditional Catholicism, are still embracing the enemies of Holy Mother Church and Our Blessed Lord. The fight within the Church Militant, between the faithful and the Modernists, is still raging as furious as ever.

_____________________________