Let me tell you a Tradcat Tail (Tale)*

Once upon a time, there was a man named Bernardus, who was espoused to a beautiful wife. She was spotless and pure and wore a gleaming white garment without stain or wrinkle having remained so her whole life. This beautiful wife had been chosen for Bernardus by his father, a wise and prudent man named Marcelus.

Bernard lives a simple life with a modest house, surrounded by rolling green hills grazed upon by a few cows. Sometimes Bernardus would long for a life of greatness, doing great things in the service of God. His father knowing this, warned him many times to beware the grandeur of Roma and its flesh pots. The Romans had indeed strayed from the true love of beauty, that shines forth so clear in Bernard's spouse Ecclesia.

One day, sadly, the father of Bernardus, Marcelus, passed away, having given all he had received. A while before his passing Marcelus himself had paid a visit himself to the Romans. Before his departure he spoke of the visit.

“This visit shall be dangerous and probable useless, but it has to be done.” he said.

Back then young Bernardus had wished also to come along.

“May I come? May I see if they are wise like you father? he requested

“How will you learn that, my son?” his father asked.

“The men of Rome can look like me, if it suits their purpose with you. Are you not yet wise enough to detect all their counterfeits?”he continued.

What is the danger? Bernardus asked. “Will the Romans shoot at us, pour fire out their windows; or can Roma put a spell on us at a distance?” he enquired.

“The last is most likely if you approach their doors with a light heart, beware their voice!” the father warned and continued.

“For they speak low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. If you listen to their words unwarily, you will hardly remember the words themselves, for little power will remain in you. Mostly you will only remember it was a delight to hear the voice speaking and the words will seem familiar, wise and reasonable. They will make you think yourself wise. When other people speak it will seem harsh and uncouth by contrast. If others contradict the voice, anger may be kindled in your heart, if, you be under the spell. For the many that it shall conquer, the spell will endure, even when they are far away. No one remain can unmoved; no one can reject its pleas and commands without great effort of mind and will, so long as its Master has control of it.” he concluded

The men in Roma had long since turned from the True path. Their knowledge of good and evil had been corrupted. Since the passing of Marcelus loneliness had weighed heavy on the shoulders of Bernardus. His father, with his charismatic spirit was no longer there to lighten the load. The allure of Roma became so strong that he ventured to seek dialogue with them. So Bernardus departed leaving his spouse to speak with the man in white, Papa, the head of the Romans, that he may be accepted as their friend.

The town of the Romans was indeed beautiful, the buildings grand, marble halls and golden ornaments. The garden of the Roma was indeed alluring, Bernardus saw that the trees were good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold.1

“Would you like to eat of the fruit of the tree that is fair to the eyes?” asked Luciano one of the Romans.

“I have heard about the fruit of these tree,” Bernardus replied, “how fair they are, but my father always commanded me to never touch it, for by doing so I would be unfaithful to my spouse.” he replied

“No! No!,” repied Luciano, “that was then, nowadays it is ok, times have changed, this is the 21st century” Luciano explained

“So I will not die the death?” he asked.

“Indeed no, the light of science has proved they are safe to eat now, and in doing so you be truly wise in the knowledge of all things, and be great and noble as the men of old.” Luciano proclaimed.

Luciano lead Bernardus to Papa so that they may engage in dialogue. Bernardus greeted Papa as Papa the white. Papa seemed annoyed. I am Papa the wise, Papa, bearer of the Fisherman's ring and Papa of many colors.

Bernardus looked and saw that his robes though they appeared white, were not so, but were woven of many colors, so that as he moved it changed hue so the eye was bewildered.

“Why do you not wear white as before, I liked white better?” asked Bernardus.

“White!” he exclaimed. “It serves as a beginning.”

“For now, I can still be Papa the white to you, but remember white can be broken and contain all colors,” he explained. “Our spouses also wear many colors, though your Ecclesia still is old fashioned, I hear and insists on white alone, that is nice, but the older days are gone, the Middle days are passing and the Younger days are beginning.”

Bernardus remembered his father explaining that the wives of the Romans wore many colors and how this was not pleasing to God.

“We have had made it lawful to have a spouse of many colors, do you approve?” Papa ventured to ask.

“If thou has made it lawful, who am to say it is illegitimate.” he answered. “Though I prefer rather that my spouse be in white, than appear multicoloured.”

Let us come to an arrangement then,” Papa said. “If you agree that we can lawfully have a multicolored spouse, then you may keep yours the way she is, for old times sake.”

Bernardus returned back to his modest home to ponder these things a while. He still loved his Ecclesia, but the fruits trees of Roma, so fair to the eyes, were tugging at his heart. He decided one April morn after talking with some friends, that he would commit his whole household to an arrangement with the men of Roma. He sent a letter to say that was lawful to break with the things of the past and become multicolored in ones outward appearance, by using the light from the past. He would bind all his household to accept these new customs of Roma as good and lawful.

Sadly there seems to be no 'happily ever after' to this Tale. Tradcat thinks it may indeed turn out to be more of a Greek Tragedy.

Veni Domine

1. Gen. 3. v6
*All characters in this tale are just fictitious and they do not reflect to any persons alive or dead or to any political or religious persons.

History Repeats ? II

18th August 2013

To discern whether we are really repeating the not too distant past, let me take leave and quote from a work from 1987 by Michael Gilchrist, called "New Church or True Church". We shall see if the current movement in the TradCat faithful and leaders are a repeat of the past.


"As long as Bishops continue to turn a blind eye, ignore complaints, remain undiscerning and trusting of all that shelters the name of "Catholic", the new church will continue to prosper and grow behind the façade of a healthy-looking Church. Simultaneously, inactivity and apathy will spread among ordinary Catholics...

There remains a desperate and growing need for firm, decisive initiatives and remedial actions to counter  or limit the activities and influences of the new church....

At grass roots, orthodox Catholics face a religious war on two fronts. They and their families, as well as many faithful priests and religious, (whose heads are not buried in the sand), have on the one hand, to contend with militant paganism and moral decadence via the secular mass media .... On the other hand, within their Church, they must contend with the unusually subtle, yet in many ways more dangerous,incursions of the new church."
New Church or True Church, Chapter 10, Towards 2000, P 248.

Where are the Traditional Bishops today who do not turn a blind eye, who hear the complaints and take action? Where is the discernment? Where is the healthy distrust in all that is labelled as being Catholic? There is this façade of smell and bells, which has the outward appearance of holiness but inside is rotten with termites.

Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones, and of all filthiness. Math. 23:27

All we see amongst the majority is inactivity, a go along to get along attitude. We see an apathy, nothing to see here, these are not the 'Droids' you are looking for! Resistance, what for! All is hunky dory! Nothing is signed!

Right now, like back then, we have a desperate and growing need for 'decisive initiatives and remedial actions to counter or limit the activities and influences' of these Church termites eating away at Tradition. Those of us '(whose heads are not buried in the sand)' having on the one hand to contend with a world which is 26 years MORE corrupt. On the other hand an enemy who is 26 years more experienced and who is by far, more subtle and more dangerous, for his time is short.

Let me quote from a recent blogger concerning the "Silence of the Lambs" now steering the largest externally Traditional ship.

"And they tell us nothing has changed! Archbishop Lefebvre didn’t let his dealings with Rome prevent him from strongly condemning the first Assisi meeting in 1986. Anyone who truly believes that nothing has changed in the Society is extremely ignorant, to put it mildly. The facts indicate that much has changed for the worst, no doubt about it. People are free to keep their heads in the sand if they’d like, but you certainly can’t ignore the facts.

So, at some point, the Neo-SSPX must break their silence and condemn what needs to be condemned. Francis’s actions cannot be excused. Let us recall what St. Francis de Sales once said:

“The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: ‘Here is the wolf!’ when it enters the flock or anywhere else.” (St. Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 29)"

http://traditionalcatholicremnant.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/the-apostasy-of-francis-and-the-neo-sspxs-silence/

Veni Domine

History Repeats?
August 12 2013

It has been said before that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Though this quote comes from a man who described himself as an 'Atheistic Catholic', the message still rings true. Throughout the Old Testament we see the chosen people going around in circles and repeating past mistakes. To those who have studied human nature, warts and all, this circular 'holding pattern' shall continue till the end of time.

Sitting in the pews, TradCat knows that with God's grace we can do all things. Learning from past mistakes we can also slow down those awful re-runs. But what happens if grace seems somewhat lacking? Well, a look at the Jews of old shows us that their infidelity and wandering  amongst the Gentiles, was soon followed by God's hand.

The punishment we have seen cast upon us, since my days in 'the litter of kittens', comes most surely from this same 'wandering' amongst the Gentile world with the desire to please. We know that God did not completely desert us, as He did not desert those of old. God chose  faithful souls to overcome the infidelity of the masses. To the world their actions seemed a scandal, to the angels and saints, great joy.  To those faithful souls we owe our thanks.

Now what for the future? Shall the great Harvest continue? Surely the devil, whose hour has come, shall not sit idle. He knows how short our memory span is and how a few years of good harvests makes one forget the famine. Pondering this always from the pews, with eyes to the Star of the Sea, we must be careful. Surely this downed angel will be working again but more subtly than before. After all he has been studying his prey for thousands of years, like a cat waits on a bird, mimicking its sound. Fellow TradCats do not succumb to shell shock. We have been in the trenches long, the coast is not clear, resist the temptation. The devil may be going about like a roaring lion, it is up to us to resit him "strong in the Faith", the Faith of over 2000 years.

A wise old 'dinosaur' once said, "Never worry about something offered from the men of Rome that is 95% good, for most can see the 5% tail, but woe to us when they offer something that is 99% good.." Fr Malachi Martin used to say "The way to see if a vision of Our Lady is genuine, look at the feet, for he can not hide the hooves".

Here we have the difficulty, for when we have 1% that we need to discern, with our historically bad score cards, then grace must abound the more, or the words of Scripture make ring very true, "When the Son of man come shall he find faith on the earth."

Veni Domine

THE TALE OF TWO SHIPS  - I              
July 11 2013

Once upon a time there were two ships sailing happily on the ocean. One was called Carpathia the other Titanic, both were on a journey yet their destinies were fated to cross.

The Titanic was the largest ship in its class the most opulent and well appointed. It was on its Maiden Voyage over 4 days out on the way to the New World. The seas were so calm it was described as like glass so much so that one could see the the stars reflected in the ice cold waters. Already trouble was brewing six warnings had been received about dangerous ice floats. 'Do not worry we are unsinkable, full ahead, put a lookout to calm the fear mongers' came orders from above.

'We are heading on the right path, trust us. I can not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that', says our Valiant superior. It was the 14th of April,  the 11th hour at 20 minutes to midnight the Sun was gone and the Moon shed not her light.

'Our ship is on the way to a new beginning' we heard it said. Suddenly there is a call 'Iceberg to the right'. calls the lookout. 'What shall we do we have recklessly been powering ahead and now we face sure disaster?' 'If I keep going and hit the iceberg straight on the passengers will surely all wake up to my incompetence.' thought the Captain.  'We can not go full astern, she was not made to go back. The ship is to big and moving too fast, to turn away! If we can just turn a little, scrap by, maybe no one will notice and I will be the saviour, turning her from disaster' thought our Captain. 'All stop engines,' was the call. 'Maybe we can steer out of this, after all this boat is tough.'   Hard left rudder.........phew! We have missed the iceberg just a few bumps on the side. Do not worry! Go back to sleep! No damage is visible, just a bit of ice on deck...

We are taking on water...hmm, the pumps will manage, or will they??

Now here is a description of the Captain of Titanic after he scrapped the berg and knew they were doomed. " As Smith began to grasp the enormity of what was about to happen, he appeared to have become paralysed by indecision. He did not issue a general call for evacuation, failed to order his officers to load the lifeboats, did not adequately organise the crew, withheld crucial information from his officers and crewmen, and gave sometimes ambiguous and impractical orders. Even some of his bridge officers were unaware for some time after the collision that the ship was sinking; Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall did not find out until 01:15, barely an hour before the ship went down, while Quartermaster George Rowe was so unaware of the emergency that after the evacuation had started, he phoned the bridge from his watch station to ask why he had just seen a lifeboat go past. Smith did not advise his officers that the ship did not have enough lifeboats to save everyone. He did not supervise the loading of the lifeboats and seemingly made no effort to find out if his orders were being followed." Wikipedia.

Titanic named after the most powerful of the Greek gods, would sink in 2 hours, with the loss of more than a thousand lives. The side of the ship was compromised just enough to fill the bow beyond what its designer had envisaged and what the pumps could manage. No matter what they tried, it was going down, and most on board, officers, crew, passengers, were unaware until it was too late....

Think of another ship sailing along on the 4th decade of its maiden voyage. It has grown opulent, the waters seem so calm all the signs were good, the sea of the world was getting better. Warnings were received to watch out, this smooth water is strange, is it not caused by the icebergs that still surround us? No, all is fine you see, all is good, the signs are good, full steam ahead, obey, we know what we are doing, say our commanders,  God does not want to sink OUR ship!

The 14th of April of that fateful year, this 'ship' also hit her iceberg, and like Titanic, the compromise to her structure was out of sight, way below the water line but filling fast, shall she stay afloat? Her captain still remains silent as to the true evil of 'IceBergs'. Now out goes the call from the faithful stewards, "Life jackets on, up on deck, man the life boats"

Veni Domine

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