A Procession in the Catacomb of Callistus, Alberto Pisa; 1905

FROM Tumultuous Times: Twenty General Councils of the Catholic Church and Vatican II and its Aftermath by Fr. Francisco Radecki, CMRI and Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI (St. Joseph’s Media, 2004):

In 1534 St. Thomas More and a relatively small number of faithful Catholics refused to sign King Henry VIII’ s Oath of Supremacy because it amounted to a denial of the Catholic Faith. “If More had sworn the oath as it was presented to him. . . he would have concurred the forcible removal of the Pope’s jurisdiction and the effective schism of the Church in England. This he could not do, even at the cost of his life.”

When St. Thomas More stood before Parliament he was taunted by Audley, Duke of Norfolk:

‘Indeed, Master More, you wish to be held wiser than all the bishops, all the nobility, all the realm entire!’ It was the old sneer he had heard so often, and now he flung back challenge for challenge in a voice ringing with the glory of belonging to Christ’s Mystical Body. ‘My lord, for one bishop of your opinion I have a hundred saints of mine; for one Parliament of yours, and God knows of what sort, I have all the General Councils of a thousand years; for one kingdom I have all the Kingdoms of Christendom! ’

Unafraid of the violent death awaiting him, the saint joked with the executioner as he mounted the rickety scaffold: “I pray you, sir, see me safe up, and for my coming down let me shift for myself.”

More’s last words portrayed his deep faith and courage: “I am dying in the faith and for the faith of the Catholic Church, the king’s good servant and God’s first.”

It would be a mistake to claim that traditional Catholicism is false simply because it is not what most people now believe.  … [T]he Catholic Church is distinguished by the purity of its doctrine, not defined by the number of followers. In the fourth century, such multitudes of the faithful were seduced by the Arian heresy, that it appeared to be Catholicism’s great defender “(St.) Athanasius against the world.”

Catholicism is not defined by the possession of church buildings. During the sixteenth century hundreds of Catholic churches were occupied by “Catholic” priests who were, in fact, subtly replacing the true Faith with Protestantism. Catholicism is not guaranteed by those who bear titles of authority; during the Western Schism of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, several of the men who bore the title of “pope” were not popes at all.

The New Church created by Vatican II is not the Catholic Church. Because its “popes” are illegitimate, there is no moral obligation to follow such men or their new religion. On the contrary, we are obliged to follow the doctrines handed down by  Christ and His Apostles and to avoid this New Church as we would any other false religion.

[…]

Let us remember that “the gates of hell” will never prevail against the Church Christ founded.

Traditional Catholics of today are often criticized because they do not accept Vatican IFs new heretical teachings.  Nevertheless, these Catholics and their families retain the rich heritage that has been handed down from time immemorial.  Their credibility lies with Christ Himself and His Church of 2,000 years. It stands in preservation of the faith of 260 popes, 20 General Councils, countless saints, Catholic clergy and Religious, faithful lay men, women and children and the multitudes of martyrs who gave their lives in defense of these same beliefs.

The Catholic Church still exists, but not in the barren framework of the new religion established since Vatican II. It is found worldwide in Christ’s flock of Traditional Catholics and faithful clergy who still follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as they have been handed down through the centuries. These sacred  beliefs still remain as clear and precise as when the Apostles first heard them from the lips of Christ. The Catholic Faith lives on as it did in the time of the catacombs and will, as Our Lord promised, continue until the end of time.

In the traditional Catholic liturgy the priest faces the crucifix and the tabernacle, not the congregation; the Mass is an unbloody renewal of the sacrifice of the Cross, not a social event, and the preeminent place is given to Christ in the tabernacle, not to the chair of the presider. Here one finds no empty table in a bare hall, but the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist adored in a surrounding that bespeaks of the mystical and the supernatural. Women kneel with modest dress, heads covered, and hands folded in prayer. Men and children also worship in humble silence before the tabernacle. Here one is able to experience the unchanged Tridentine Latin Mass and liturgy derived from the time of Christ and the Apostles. It is here that you will be able to recapture the stability and worship you thought had disappeared and that you have been searching for.

Fr. Francisco Radecki, CMRI and Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI, Tumultuous Times: Twenty General Councils of the Catholic Church and Vatican II and its Aftermath; St. Joseph’s Media, 2004; pp 571-573

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