The Jews and Muslims Versus the SSPX

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No matter what sector of the world one engages, whether politics, money, sex, society, culture, philosophy, theology, etc., there are liberals and conservatives. By and large, the conservatives want to hold on to the past for fear of what may change in the future; the liberals want to change the future for fear of what happened in the past. You can’t escape it. It just is. That’s because each side has legitimate complaints about the other, and neither side has all the right answers. Both sides have good and bad. When the bad of one surfaces, the good of the other side is quick to say, “We told you so. We have a better way.” It will never change. We can only hope that we are able to take the good and discard the bad from each side.

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Quo Vadis, Petrus?

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In the history of the Church it’s not often that a private book is published by a reigning pope, but Vatican II popes apparently started a trend. John XXIII published a couple of books; Paul VI doubled that; John Paul II doubled Paul VI, and now Benedict XVI has almost doubled John Paul II, and in half the time. Prior to Vatican II hardly any pope wrote a private book on theology. I’m not sure of the reason for this trend. I am more concerned with the fact that it tends to foster what E. Michael Jones calls the “I/We dichotomy” which “demeans the papacy by allowing the pope to become a celebrity” for the purpose of “establishing the bounds of permissible discourse according to a political agenda …”[i] In other words, what cannot be said officially because of ecclesiastical constraints is said unofficially in order to achieve a desired result. Paul VI apparently saw another side to this potential duplicity when he said: “Is it really right for someone to present himself again and again in that way and allow oneself to be regarded as a star?”[ii] Perhaps this same temptation also hampered our first pope. It was Pope Peter in Galatians 2:11-21 who, when he decided to engage in some private and unofficial commentary on the Gospel under the name Cephas, eventually shunned his Gentile converts and instead bent over backwards to placate the hostile and unbelieving Jews, upon which he was severely upbraided by Paul for “perverting the Gospel.” This is an ever-present danger for a pope when he is wearing the papal tiara; how much more when he dons a hat with the title “private theologian”? As we shall see, it may be no coincidence that the Jews who made the Cephas-side of Pope Peter stumble in proclaiming the Gospel are eerily similar to the Jews today who are making the Joseph Ratzinger side of Pope Benedict XVI stumble as well. It’s uncanny to see such a resemblance between the first century and the twenty-first century. In light of the dire warnings from our saints; the Fatima message; and Scriptures that speak about the rise of antichrist, who will now win this battle on earth between the popes and the Jews remains to be seen.

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Is the SSPX Anti-Semitic?

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Today, allegations of anti-semitism are commonplace. Unfortunately, those who most often make the allegations fail to define what they mean by the term. Perhaps they do so unintentionally, believing that the public already has a common understanding. But it could also be a deliberate attempt at demagoguery; a scheme to win the war of words and labels before any shots are fired. I don’t know into which of these two categories Jewish convert Roy Schoeman fits because I don’t know his heart. Nevertheless, his bold and unqualified accusation of anti-semitism against the Society of St. Pius X brings the question of his own views and motives to the fore.

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The Old Covenant is Revoked: The USCC Removes Heretical Sentence from its Catechism

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By and large, Culture Wars is a voice crying in the wilderness in this day and age of decadence and faithlessness. Most of CW’s articles point out the deficiencies in the church and society that few others are willing to mention, much less investigate. Because CW’s message is so critical, you might wonder just what kind of impact it is having. Are people listening? Are lives changing? Is society becoming more aware of the evils surrounding it? I’m sure it is to some extent, but sometimes we receive direct evidence that our voice is being heard and things are changing.

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The Old Covenant: Revoked or Not Revoked?

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More and more Catholics, Protestants and Jews are seeking to overturn 2000 years of Christian teaching concerning the Old Covenant. Although the Church has always taught that the Old Covenant is revoked, what we are now being told by theologians, clerics and lay persons in high places is that it has not been revoked. These critics, who refer disparagingly to the traditional doctrine by such names as “supersessionism,” “replacement theology,” “revocation theology,” etc., are all seeking for one thing – to establish the position that: a) the Jews retain legal possession of the Old Covenant; b) that this covenant is independent of, but runs concurrently with, the New Covenant; and c) most hold that the Old Covenant is the means by which God provides salvation to the Jews. We are hearing this new teaching from almost every quarter of the religious world and it is one of the fastest growing problems in the Church today. At its root, it emasculates the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, and does so for the people who need it the most – the Jews.

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