"They" must have put something in the water in the late 90s, because something similar happened to me. (Not from SSPX)
Funny Sede story: We have a group here in my city with a "Catholic Parish" and all. One of the theology classes I took, we would take "field trips" to different churches, so we could discuss liturgical differences and whatnot. (it was actually a GREAT class!)
I wasn't the "typical Catholic" - I already knew/understood a lot of my faith - symbols in the Church, etc. So, I'm sitting there in their liturgy and looking around. (Because I don't know Church Latin enough to follow the READINGS that were in Latin ugh! Liturgy of the Eucharist, fine, but not the readings!). And I noticed: they had a VATICAN FLAG displayed proud as could be near the altar!
So after the service, they did a q&a with us. And I point blank asked them: "You say the Chair of Peter is Vacant... So WHY do you display the Vatican Flag? Because the Vatican Flag is displayed only in Churches in union with Rome to show they are part of Vatican City."
The shocked stuttering from them... (And actually from my professor too, because he had forgotten that!). But they couldn't answer the question! At all... they didn't even try. It was about 5 seconds of stuttering and then "NEXT QUESTION!"
Now, there's actually about 3 different ways they COULD have addressed that question, that would have maintained their Sede beliefs. But they didn't even know their own symbols well enough to try.
This one was a good read. When I was in grad school, a SSPX goer tried recruiting me. Thankfully, God protected me, but it's a temptation for many who don't know the Church can have enemies on the right.
That means a lot coming from you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Any group or subculture in the Church that appears to bring us back to the 1950s is tempting for old school Catholics, or the “old-school minded”. But God has changed the game. He wants us to go on without certain reassurances of our old customs. He wants us to trust, and to march through the desert. He wants to chastise us, purify us, and make us strong for what he has in store for us next. I believe all of this!
People forget the end goal. It isn't some glorious 1950s but Heaven. And people ignore the very real problems that were in the Church in the 50s and before. There was a reason Fulton Sheen railed against the problems in the Church and laity, that Pius X had to start the oath against modernism, etc. And heck, I love a reverent Mass, but people who think TLM is a cure-all forget that if TLM was made the sole Mass, those who abuse NO would abuse TLM. You would just shift the problem.
Wow, thanks for sharing this story!
"They" must have put something in the water in the late 90s, because something similar happened to me. (Not from SSPX)
Funny Sede story: We have a group here in my city with a "Catholic Parish" and all. One of the theology classes I took, we would take "field trips" to different churches, so we could discuss liturgical differences and whatnot. (it was actually a GREAT class!)
I wasn't the "typical Catholic" - I already knew/understood a lot of my faith - symbols in the Church, etc. So, I'm sitting there in their liturgy and looking around. (Because I don't know Church Latin enough to follow the READINGS that were in Latin ugh! Liturgy of the Eucharist, fine, but not the readings!). And I noticed: they had a VATICAN FLAG displayed proud as could be near the altar!
So after the service, they did a q&a with us. And I point blank asked them: "You say the Chair of Peter is Vacant... So WHY do you display the Vatican Flag? Because the Vatican Flag is displayed only in Churches in union with Rome to show they are part of Vatican City."
The shocked stuttering from them... (And actually from my professor too, because he had forgotten that!). But they couldn't answer the question! At all... they didn't even try. It was about 5 seconds of stuttering and then "NEXT QUESTION!"
Now, there's actually about 3 different ways they COULD have addressed that question, that would have maintained their Sede beliefs. But they didn't even know their own symbols well enough to try.
This one was a good read. When I was in grad school, a SSPX goer tried recruiting me. Thankfully, God protected me, but it's a temptation for many who don't know the Church can have enemies on the right.
That means a lot coming from you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Any group or subculture in the Church that appears to bring us back to the 1950s is tempting for old school Catholics, or the “old-school minded”. But God has changed the game. He wants us to go on without certain reassurances of our old customs. He wants us to trust, and to march through the desert. He wants to chastise us, purify us, and make us strong for what he has in store for us next. I believe all of this!
People forget the end goal. It isn't some glorious 1950s but Heaven. And people ignore the very real problems that were in the Church in the 50s and before. There was a reason Fulton Sheen railed against the problems in the Church and laity, that Pius X had to start the oath against modernism, etc. And heck, I love a reverent Mass, but people who think TLM is a cure-all forget that if TLM was made the sole Mass, those who abuse NO would abuse TLM. You would just shift the problem.