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The Remnant’s Latest: The Blathering of the Clams

 
RECENTLY I received a letter urging traditional Catholics to circulate a video produced by the R&R publication The Remnant, and calling for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) to “unite in battle against our true enemy, the Modernists.”

In the video, Mission Impossible: Unite the SSPX and FSSP Clans, Remnant editor Michael Matt treats viewers to potted histories and fawning portraits of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, SSPX and FSSP. His is a whining, emotional appeal, entirely divorced from any discernible theological principle. We (all trads, but especially SSPX-ers and FSSP-ers) are all “brothers” because we go to the Latin Mass. Why, oh why, can’t we “just get along” to fight “the enemy.”

I addressed just this question in a 2008 sermon, Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? — because of Catholic doctrine, especially Catholic doctrine on the authority of the Roman Pontiff, which R&R outfits like The Remnant and SSPX have rejected both in theory and in practice. Moreover, the Church teaches that the principle for unity among Catholics is submission to the Roman Pontiff, who exercises authority from Christ to proclaim and protect the truths of the faith.

A Clueless Analogy

Mr. Matt, however, proposes another principle for unity (at 18:56) with a truly wacky analogy, based on a scene in the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart (though fortunately not the most infamous one…). The William Wallace character, played by Mr. Gibson, knows that the English can only be defeated by uniting the warring Scottish clans and that he can’t do this on his own. So (as Mr. Matt puts it), “he appealed to a higher authority… the highest ranking noble, Robert the Bruce,” to “unite the clans.”

“In our case,” says Mr. Matt, drawing his analogy, “the old faith itself is Robert the Bruce. The old faith, that’s what we appeal to. The faith can unite the clans.

The block-headed cluelessness of such a statement leaves you wondering whether Mr. Matt intentionally ignored the analogy that should be obvious to any Catholic: the pope — if you claim you have one — is the highest ranking authority for Catholics, and unity can only come from submission to him.

But no, in Mr. Matt’s R&R world, the pope is not the “higher authority.” Instead, it is “tradition” or  “the faith,” either as interpreted by Mr. Matt and R&R bloggers, or in the case of SSPX-ers, The Position of the Society as Substitute Magisterium. For all these, it is truly a case of The Pope Speaks: YOU Decide!

Another Remnant special!

More of the Same!

In addition to this fundamental error, the Matt video is yet another installment in the unending series of whiney, pointless, wild goose chases that The Remnant has been trying to launch since its foundation in the 1960s. None of them — not one — has had the slightest effect in slowing down the Vatican II juggernaut. So while Mr. Matt may present his latest public emotional jag as a passionate appeal for a “gathering of the clans,” it’s nothing more than the usual “blathering of the clams,” the main ingredient of The Remnant’s peculiar theological chowder.

And as for “uniting” SSPX and FSSP, these organizations are already united in their communion with the apostate/false pope Bergoglio, and with the false church of Vatican II.

SSPX and FSSP are not “battling” the modernists, both groups have in fact surrendered to them. Their members are all sold men.

Put ‘em in a bag, shake ‘em up, and they all come out the same.

This is so because the Matts, the R&R camp, SSPX-ers, FSSP-ers and others like them have promoted the poisonous theological error and the sinful moral principle that a Catholic is free to “recognize” someone as the Vicar of Jesus Christ on Earth, but “resist” him by ignoring, denouncing or mocking his teachings, his laws, his liturgical ordinances and his commands. This error and sinful moral principle utterly overthrows the whole edifice of Catholic teaching on submission to the Roman Pontiff as necessary for salvation.

Helping Build the One-World Church

Both SSPX and FSSP, moreover, are in the process of providing Bergoglio with exactly what he wants, and what the forces of anti-Christ have wanted for centuries: a one-world religion that unites every type of religious practice (Latin Masses, Pentecostalism, guitar Masses, lady Lutheran bishops, worship-the-earth environmentalism, Indian peace-pipe rituals, Brazilian paganism, etc.) into one, big, happy dogma-free organization that recognizes no absolute truth.

In this system, the pope has no true authority, whether doctrinal or disciplinary, over anyone. If he makes a pronouncement or promulgates a law, you’re free to heed or disregard it as you see fit in terms of your own criteria for judgement — “tradition,” if you’re an SSPX-er; the “Bible,” if you’re a Pentecostalist; or “cultural conditioning,” if you’re a feminist theologian.

I understand the emotional appeal of the Rodney King, why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along trick that Mr. Matt is trying to pull.

Don’t fall for it. Mr. Matt’s clam chowder is just a new recipe on Bergoglio’s menu for a One-World Church.