FROM “Upon This Rock” (12/01/1977) by W.F. Strojie:

I have said that the fact of abuses is not such an absolute thing; but lack of legitimate authority is, and I thereby come to the main Traditionalist temptation, which is not only schism, but heresy, the belief that Mass and Sacraments can be had lawfully and priests be lawfully ordained outside the juridical order of the Papacy.  As I wrote in another paper, this is the heresy of Simon Magus.  It is not a sufficient answer to say that Paul 6 does not seem to be a true pope.  True pope or false, vacant Chair or not, the authority remains lacking for these attempts to set up substitute parishes, chapels, and seminaries.  The fact of a destroyer on the Papal Chair, and apparently apostate Bishops in seemingly all dioceses, does not give anyone the right to disregard the Church’s laws or bend them to his own purpose.  This free interpretation of the Law, the putting of it aside as not now applicable, can serve to make any man — Bishop, priest or layman — a law to himself, and it opens a door for deliberate confusers and subversives.  I know that a few papers of mine contain sentences that might be taken as encouraging this kind of disregard of the Law.  I readily admit to some loose expressions and occasional unwise overemphasis in one way or another, and this disturbs me.  But if my papers are examined as a whole, and distinctions are noted with regard to the particular applications as I made them, I think unbiased readers will concede that I have not encouraged any freewheeling disregard of the Law on the presumption that a false pope and apostate Bishops can justify this.

We have, on the one side, an uncatholic attitude of “the pope is the pope,” blind obedience to Paul 6 as the way, the life, and the truth.  Against this attitude of the close followers of Paul 6 and the see-no-evil Moderates, are those of use who see the destructive reality of Montini’s works and who speak of them plainly.  The Traditionalists have not closed their eyes but, noting Paul’s words and works destructive of the Church, they say he has unpoped himself and lacks authority, and that they may therefore set up their own Traditionalist thing.  According to this way of thinking, we are to suppose that any Bishop is free to set up what amounts to his own Church.  Not much imagination is needed to see what this can lead to.  With regard to a current claimant of this pseudo-pope status, Marcel Lefebvre, his followers assure us that we need not be concerned about his good intentions:  “Have faith in Lefebvre” is their message.  But all the faith in the world will not make him Pope or do away with the Law.  As a non-residential Bishop, he hasn’t an iota of authority over the least child in any diocese of the world.  They are fools who give their allegiance to a Bishop without jurisdiction, for the whole plan of Salvation is founded on Authority.  “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth . . .  whose sins you shall forgive,” etc.  No true Catholic ever questions this.  I myself have written that Paul 6 had unpoped himself; I said more — that he had never assumed true papal authority, that he is Antichrist, but this is not to say or imply that there is no authority, that we are now free to do each his own thing.  This is a truth that can be obscured when a Bishop’s miter and a whole barrage of words, including vague twists of Canon Law, enter the picture.

   […]

…. The Council of Trent condemns those who say that the Sacraments are not necessary for salvation, but this is not to be understood in an absolute sense, but as against the teachings of the Reformers’ doctrine of justification by faith alone.  But, however that doctrine may apply, and practically speaking, how can a few priests provide Mass and Sacraments for thousands of scattered faithful and may they do this in disregard of the Church’s laws?  Those who are baptized and have received Communion* have received the necessary Sacraments.  Baptism and Matrimony are possible without a priest.  Anyone may baptize in an emergency, which would surely apply in times or places where a doubtfully valid rite is being used in the parishes.  Canon Law provides for marriage in cases of a certain time without a priest.

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