Yet Fr. Herkel could consider Fr.Damian as being opposed to Catholic teaching. Fr.Herkel could see the Society of St. Pius X in accord with Vatican Council II not as interpreted by the Jewish Left.
Fr. Damian’s critical statement is there on the on line report Anti-Semitism still surrounds Society of St. Pius X Wednesday, 24 June 2009 by Michael Swan, in The Catholic Register, Canada. It could suggest that Fr. Daminan puts aside the Catholic Church’s interpretation of Vatican Council II and endorses the Jewish Left interpretation which is miles apart.
In comments on the article I had asked Fr. Damian to clarify his position. This was when I was abruptly stopped from posting comments.
Did Fr. Damian and the editor of The Catholic Register think I was another anti-Semite? I was quoting Church documents as usual and giving references for my statements with the official teaching of the Catholic Church.
So the Inter Religious Office in Toronto is a controversial one. It seems like its Director and The Catholic Register, to please the influential Jewish Left, were denying Catholic teaching. It was too repugnant for them to even see it as a comment.
They were implying that Fr. Herkel and the SSPX were opposed to Vatican Council II- and so was I. If Fr.Damian could affirm the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus it would indicate that the Archdiocese of Toronto is really faithful to Church teaching. But is it?
Does Fr. Damian consider Ad Gentes 7 and Lumen Gentium 14, as anti Semitic? It says Jews need to convert into the Catholic Church with Catholic Faith and the Baptism of water to avoid Hell. Would Fr.Damian support a campaign to have AD 7, LG 16 expunged from Vatican Council II?
An issue is what does the Archdiocese of Toronto teach about us Catholics who value Vatican Council II and the ex cathedra dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus. We interpret the dogma according to Fr. Leonard Feeney. Are we according to Fr. Damian heretics and anti Semites? Are we Catholics according to him?
Fr.Damian could be asked in a Canadian court of law if he is assuming that Fr. Leonard Feeney was a heretic and not a Catholic and like wise tall of us- who affirm the ex cathedra dogma without changing it.
For us the issue also is does Fr. Damian have the right to celebrate Holy Mass? Is he not in the mortal sin of faith for rejecting the ex- cathedra dogma and not affirming Vatican Council II in accord with the dogma?
Is the policy of the Archdiocese anti Catholic, targeting and intimidating groups of Catholics e.g. members of the SSPX and us, who interpret the dogma extra ecclesiam nulla salus according to St. Maximillian Kolbe and the saints and popes down the centuries.
Is the Archdiocese of Toronto discriminating against us Catholics because of our Catholic faith which we affirm in public? Would the Archdiocese employ a Catholic who was faithful to Church teachings different from that of Fr. Damian ? Would they discriminate on the basis of religion?
As a Catholic is the Archdiocese saying that I am in heresy? As a Catholic is he saying that I am not in heresy? There are no two positions; there are no two ways. Either he is in heresy or not or I am in heresy. So if I am not in heresy then he is.
Is the Archdiocese of Toronto a Vatican Council II rejectionist diocese ? ( to use the phrase used by Michael Swan in the article, referring to the SSPX).
We say that everyone needs to enter the Catholic for salvation, to go to Heaven and avoid Hell and there are no exceptions. If there is anyone with a good conscience, the baptism of desire or in invincible ignorance(LG 16) we say God will know -and God will judge accordingly it does not conflict with the infallibe teaching extra ecclesiam nulla salus.
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Anti-Semitism still surrounds Society of St. Pius X
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Written by Michael Swan, The Catholic Register,
Views : 1005
Society of St. Pius X superior general Bishop Bernard Fellay
TORONTO - While Society of St. Pius X superior general Bishop Bernard Fellay visited Canada in June on his way to illicitly ordain two seminarians in Winona, Minn., the anti-Semitic theology of the traditionalist society continued to haunt the breakaway sect.
The Vatican II-rejectionist Society of St. Pius X has been in the news since Pope Benedict XVI on Jan. 21 remitted the 1988 ruling of excommunication on four bishops, including Fellay, ordained that year by Bishop Marcel Lefebvre. One of the four, Bishop Richard Williamson, was seen on Swedish television the same day his excommunication was lifted denying any Jews were killed in the Holocaust. The remarks came from an interview last November.
Fellay, who was in Toronto for a mid-June pastoral visit to the Society’s parish and an interview with Basilian Father Tom Rosica on Salt + Light TV June 15, told The Catholic Register that Williamson’s anti-Semitic views and opinions on the Holocaust were a surprise to him and were purely personal opinions that do not represent the position of the Society.
“There is a certain freedom in the Society,” Fellay said. “We do respect personal opinions. But that does not mean that we agree with them — but there is a freedom of thought.”
While the Society’s American and European web sites have been scrubbed of a number of anti-Jewish screeds in recent months, its Canadian web site still features a 2003 essay by Fr. Emmanuel Herkel claiming “the Antichrist will be Jewish” (www.sspx.ca/Communicantes/Sep2003/antichrist.htm ).
Herkel, who works for the Society of St. Pius X in Calgary, also claims the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were a good thing because they have alerted Christians to the “Eastern barbarism” of Muslims. He argues Islam has conspired against Christianity and the West for a millennium.
While Fellay claims his society is not anti-Semitic, Lefebvre and his followers have always vehemently rejected Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s ecumenical declaration on the relationship between the church and non-Christian religions, particularly with Judaism.
In an Easter letter to friends and benefactors, Fellay blames “Jews and progressives” for the controversy over Williamson’s opinions.
“What does the Pope really think? Where does he stand? The Jews and the progressives demand of him to choose between Vatican II and us,” Fellay wrote.
In his interview with The Catholic Register Fellay claimed to respect the covenants between God and the Jewish people.
"They are the elected people by God, and it’s in this very chosen people that Our Lord came to the world. So there is a very, very special relation between them and God. Definitely then, also between us and them,” he said. “Now the fact that they did not receive Him, or did not accept Him, as St. John says in the beginning of his Gospel, I may say that’s the big problem for them, not for us.”
While Fellay dismisses Williamson’s views on the Holocaust as merely personal, official publications and web sites of the Society of St. Pius X have repeatedly indulged in classic anti-Jewish rhetoric. Articles claiming that “Judaism is inimical to all nations in general, and in a special manner to Christian nations,” and that “Jews must not live together with Christians” have disappeared from the Society’s American web site in recent months.
Herkel’s theories about Jews — including that “History has demonstrated that Jews, scattered throughout the world in small groups, are not often assimilated into any other nation” — remains on the Canadian web site.
Several attempts to speak with Herkel before deadline were unsuccessful.
Herkel’s bizarre theories about the antichrist, Jews and the end of the world are a long way from anything like Catholic theology, said archdiocese of Toronto ecumenical and interfaith affairs officer Fr. Damian MacPherson.
“His offending positions against Muslims and Jews clearly separates and places him outside and apart from the inspired documents, for example ‘We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah’ and Nostra Aetate,” said MacPherson.
Eric Vernon, Canadian Jewish Congress representative to the Canadian Christian-Jewish Consultation, called Herkel’s essay “anti-Semitic and certainly offensive.”
“We need to shed a light on these guys,” said Vernon. “Our (Canadian) freedoms and our rights are delicate and the garden constantly needs to be weeded.”
Fellay told The Catholic Register he welcomes moves by Pope Benedict XVI to have the Society of St. Pius X deal more directly with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Vatican spokesman Fr. Frederico Lombardi told Catholic News Service that Ecclesia Dei, the special Vatican commission for dealing with traditionalist groups, would be folded into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “soon.” The change is expected in July, when Ecclesia Dei chief Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos retires on turning 80.
The opportunity to speak with the Vatican more directly about doctrinal matters represents an opportunity to heal the rift between Rome and the Society of St. Pius X, Fellay said.
“Many of the problems that the church is encountering today flow from, derive from doctrinal problems,” he said. “If we can really get down to the crux of the matter we are really happy.”
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