Apologies for not responding to recent comments but I have spent the last four days rushing around London. Give me a little time and I will reply.
Some of you may recall my avowed intent to attend the SSPX Mass last Sunday at Wimbledon, it being the only one I could reach in time.
Well, my wife and myself rolled up at the due time but who should process onto the sanctuary but Bishop Richard Williamson himself. This threw us into a state of flux; was it legitimate to attend a Mass celebrated by this man? We both wrestled with the canonical implications and, finally, agreed to stay but not to receive Holy Communion, purely on the ground that our frames of mind would not be appropriate for reception.
However, the time arrived for the sermon and the Bishop launched into a rather fragmented, wooden and unstructured rant that was, at times, most unChristian to the point of detraction. He veered from subject to subject, seldom stopping to conclude a train of thought. I began to appreciate how sinister this approach is because some of the points he made were sound and irrefutable but he would then go on to add a twist that, to us at any rate, was unnacceptable in the extreme.
He touched on the Royal wedding (as he called it "Wills and Kate getting married") he liked the pageantry but did not like the fact that they had been "shacked up together" for several years. Now the meaning of this may be true but it is not for me and certainly not for a Bishop to assume that they have been "living in sin". The use of slang words such as "shacked up" were peppered throughout the sermon which was proving to be long and boring. At times, as if he sensed that maybe he had sent the congregation off into sleep mode he would suddenly shout out a few words very aggressively. This was not a pleasant experience and it was provident that there were no children present as his style of presentation and his prophetic utterances would have been frightening for them.
Finally, in his last twisted sentences he attacked the Holy Father. It was cleverly done, first he would praise or semi praise him and then he would deliver the kick below the belt "I don't know whether he has sinned against the Church or not, he is a well intentioned man I am sure but the road to hell is paved with good intentions" was the gist of what he said.
That changed my mind totally as I then thought that there was no way that this man would included the Pope in his prayers during the consecration.
We left swiftly and silently, angry with him and ourselves because we had missed Sunday Mass.
As we left we were followed by a parishioner who pleaded with us to stay and stated that the Bishop's views were not liked and that the best thing to do was to pray for him and to go to Holy Communion.
We agreed to the former (with some difficulty) but not to the latter.
It left a nasty taste in our mouths that has still not gone away, especially so since, coming the previous day from the Guild of Catholic Bloggers' meeting where all had stated clearly the desire to remain 'loyal to the Magisterium', it was shattering to find a senior churchman who was so opposed to Pope Benedict XVI.
Three issues arose from this. Firstly, I was under the impression that Bishop Williamson was under orders not to celebrate Mass in public, something that Bishop Fellay might like to check up on.
Secondly, that is probably the last SSPX Mass I will attend. A pity but I cannot chance this happening again.
And, thirdly, because of my assumption that prayers for the Pope would have been omitted, I do not believe this Mass would have been valid.
Some of you may recall my avowed intent to attend the SSPX Mass last Sunday at Wimbledon, it being the only one I could reach in time.
Well, my wife and myself rolled up at the due time but who should process onto the sanctuary but Bishop Richard Williamson himself. This threw us into a state of flux; was it legitimate to attend a Mass celebrated by this man? We both wrestled with the canonical implications and, finally, agreed to stay but not to receive Holy Communion, purely on the ground that our frames of mind would not be appropriate for reception.
However, the time arrived for the sermon and the Bishop launched into a rather fragmented, wooden and unstructured rant that was, at times, most unChristian to the point of detraction. He veered from subject to subject, seldom stopping to conclude a train of thought. I began to appreciate how sinister this approach is because some of the points he made were sound and irrefutable but he would then go on to add a twist that, to us at any rate, was unnacceptable in the extreme.
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| Bishop Williamson - more Protestant than Catholic! |
Finally, in his last twisted sentences he attacked the Holy Father. It was cleverly done, first he would praise or semi praise him and then he would deliver the kick below the belt "I don't know whether he has sinned against the Church or not, he is a well intentioned man I am sure but the road to hell is paved with good intentions" was the gist of what he said.
That changed my mind totally as I then thought that there was no way that this man would included the Pope in his prayers during the consecration.
We left swiftly and silently, angry with him and ourselves because we had missed Sunday Mass.
As we left we were followed by a parishioner who pleaded with us to stay and stated that the Bishop's views were not liked and that the best thing to do was to pray for him and to go to Holy Communion.
We agreed to the former (with some difficulty) but not to the latter.
It left a nasty taste in our mouths that has still not gone away, especially so since, coming the previous day from the Guild of Catholic Bloggers' meeting where all had stated clearly the desire to remain 'loyal to the Magisterium', it was shattering to find a senior churchman who was so opposed to Pope Benedict XVI.
Three issues arose from this. Firstly, I was under the impression that Bishop Williamson was under orders not to celebrate Mass in public, something that Bishop Fellay might like to check up on.
Secondly, that is probably the last SSPX Mass I will attend. A pity but I cannot chance this happening again.
And, thirdly, because of my assumption that prayers for the Pope would have been omitted, I do not believe this Mass would have been valid.
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