So you have been
reading our web site, you have been praying and thinking, and you are inclined
to believe that we are probably right in our assessment of the situation with
regard to the Novus Ordo religion and the Catholic Church, the usurpation by
the Freemasons with their Modernism, the changes in doctrine, worship, and
discipline, and the papal pretenders. Naturally, there is now a burning
question on your mind: “Now what? What do we do now? Where do we go from here?
How
can I be a Catholic today, and where is the Church? How is this going to be
resolved?!”
These are very good
questions. Some of them can be answered more easily than others. Let’s first
recap what we know, and then proceed from there.
What
we know
We know all of the
following to be true, either from Divine Revelation and/or Catholic teaching,
or from reason, or from deductive reasoning applied to empirical facts:
We know that God
desires us to be saved and that He will grant sufficient grace to all who
sincerely desire their salvation.
We know that holding
fast to the Catholic Faith — possessing the virtue of Faith — is
an absolutely essential condition for salvation. Nothing can substitute for it.
We know that it is
impossible for the Catholic Church to defect.
We know that it is
impossible for the Catholic Church to cease to exist.
We know that whatever
is not incompatible with the promises and guarantees of Christ with
regard to the Church, is possible, even though it may seem extremely
unlikely to us, or we find it terribly distressing or very difficult to accept.
(Be sure to see Fr. Edmund O’Reilly’s commentary on this.)
We know that it is
necessary for salvation for every Catholic to be subject to the Roman Pontiff
(see Denz.
469). If the identity of the Roman Pontiff is not known,
the will to be subject to the Roman Pontiff suffices, for the essence
of subjection lies in the will; likewise if there is no Pope reigning.
We know that it is
impossible for the Catholic Church to change her teaching substantially.
While doctrine can develop (in order to become more
explicit), dogma cannot; and while teaching can be further clarified,
any clarification can never contradict what was taught before.
Anything contradictory would not be a development or a clarification but
a corruption of that teaching (see Denz. 1800).
We know that the Novus
Ordo religion differs substantially in her teachings, her laws, and her liturgy
from the Catholic Church of Pope Pius XII and his predecessors.
We therefore know that
the Novus Ordo religion (a.k.a. “Vatican II Church”, the institution of
which John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis
have been the leaders so far) is not the same institution as the Catholic Church
of Pope Pius XII and his predecessors.
We know that a teaching
that was true at one point in the past cannot be false now.
We know that our
situation today has been foreknown by God from all eternity and is passively
willed by Him at this very moment. It is part of the Divine Plan, not
a negation of it.
We know that no matter
how heavy our crosses, God does not abandon us but offers to sanctify us
through them, providing all that is necessary to enable us to do His will at
all times.
We know that the way to
Heaven is the narrow, difficult, sorrowful road, not the comfortable,
feel-good, easy path (cf. Mt 7:13-14; Lk 13:23-24).
We know that towards
the end of the world, there will be a spiritual deception so great that even
the elect would be deceived if God did not prevent it (see Mt 24:24); St. Paul
calls this the “operation of error” (2 Thess 2:8-11).
We know that even
though all seemed hopeless, humanly speaking, when Christ gave up His spirit at
the Cross on Calvary, nevertheless God found a way to make this terrifying
blasphemy, this greatest of human crimes, this Deicide, into the most
exceptional and most abundant source of blessing and grace for this world, and
to allow our Blessed Lord’s apparent defeat to be His Eternal Victory. Though
it seemed different at the time, the Cross of Calvary was not the result of
God’s plans being contradicted or impeded but of them being fulfilled and
carried out.
Three
Indispensable Elements: Faith, Hope, Charity
First, no matter how
terrifying the times we live in, no matter how difficult the situation, we must
at all times and above all keep our Catholic Faith. There is no question that
the Faith as taught and believed until 1958 (when Pope Pius XII died) is true.
For if it was true then, it must still be true now, since the truth cannot
change. Hence we cannot go wrong by clinging to the Faith as it was taught in
the Church’s catechisms and magisterial documents before the entire crisis came
to be. It is important, then, that we educate ourselves in the True Faith, that
we understand how it differs from that of the Novus Ordo Sect, and that we know
how to refute the errors of the secular world and the Modernist Vatican II
Church in Rome.
Second, we must not
lose sight of the fact that God is in control and has not abandoned us. We must
firmly hope in His grace and His assistance, in His Providence and
His will for us to be saved. Since He loves us and died for us so that we could
attain to everlasting bliss in Heaven, He will also give to our souls what we need
in order to arrive at a blessed destiny. We must cultivate this hope, which,
like Faith and charity, is a theological virtue and absolutely indispensable
for salvation.
Third, we must take
great care to live a holy life. We must practice virtue and shun vice. We must
remain in the state of sanctifying grace and increase in it; or, if we are not
in this state, we must eagerly seek to return to it (through sacramental
confession or, if this possibility is lacking, through perfect contrition). Above all we must pray,
and we ought to utilize all of the Church’s helps and advice in living a life
pleasing to God, in accordance with our state of life. And of course, an
essential part of all prayer, all charity, all virtue, all desire for holiness,
is contrition, or supernatural sorrow for sin.
To facilitate our
perseverance, Holy Mother Church has given us acts of Faith, hope, charity, and
contrition, which you can pray at any time, and should pray fervently at least
once every day. You can find these prayers at this link.
Holy
Mass, Confession, and the other Sacraments
A particular difficulty
that results from the terrible exile into which Almighty God has seen fit to
place us for our purification and sanctification, is the near-total absence of
normal parish life, which Catholics in most countries have been very much
accustomed to. In fact, in most parts of the Western world, it is a given that
a Catholic parish exists not far from anywhere, though we must remember that in
Church history it did not always use to be this way. Numerous parish churches
within a short distance of one’s location is not a Catholic’s right but
a privilege, and the times we live in today simply no longer afford that
luxury in most cases, as virtually all Catholic churches have been taken over
by the Modernists, regardless of whether they offer a “Latin Mass” there
or not — the Faith they preach and hold fast to is not the Faith of the
Catholic Church, but the Modernist distortion thereof, which emanates from
the Vatican II Sect in Rome.
However, even though
almost all churches that carry the label “Catholic” today belong to the
Modernist Sect, there are still (or should we say, again) some churches
owned and operated by real Catholics, clergy and laity that profess the true,
unadulterated Catholic Faith of the ages, that do not adhere, whether
in word or in action, to the false papal claimants since 1958 and that
do not profess communion with the Vatican II Church. It behooves all
who desire to be genuine, traditional Catholics to find such parish churches
and missions and see if any of them are in their part of the world, in their
region, perhaps even in their neighborhood.
Because there is no
(known) Pope in our day, and all the local diocesan clergy have
defected to the
Modernist Sect, it is often difficult to determine whether a particular church
that claims to offer the Traditional Latin Mass is in fact an acceptable parish
to attend, i.e. one that has validly-ordained clergy who profess the true
Catholic Faith, and that does not suffer from any serious problems that would
make attendance either dangerous or imprudent.
In choosing a good
parish, we offer the following general guidelines:
The parish (i.e. clergy
& laity) must profess and teach the true Catholic Faith, that is, the
Catholic Faith as known, taught, and believed until the death of Pope Pius XII
on Oct. 9, 1958.
The clerics at the
parish must possess valid Catholic orders, that is, they must have valid
ordinations that can be traced back to a Catholic bishop consecrated under Pope
Pius XII or any of his predecessors. Any cleric whose ordination was conferred
in the Novus
Ordo rite of the False “Pope” Paul VI (instituted in 1968), or who was
ordained by a bishop whose orders were conferred in the 1968 Novus Ordo rite,
must be considered invalid.
The parish cannot
profess communion with the Novus Ordo Church or acknowledge the Novus Ordo
leaders as Catholic Popes (currently Francis, and formerly Benedict XVI, John
Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI, and John XXIII), whether officially recognized
by them (“indult” parishes) or not (Society of St. Pius X and
various “independent” chapels that acknowledge the Novus Ordo Sect to be
the Catholic Church and its leaders as legitimate Catholic Popes but refuse
submission to them).
The parish should be
free from major problems. We are all members of a fallen race; we are sinners.
It is natural for problems, difficulties, disagreements, and tensions to occur
in parish life. In normal times, the diocesan bishop would resolve such problems
authoritatively, but in our times, there are no diocesan bishops left, so such
problems cannot easily be resolved. What to do? First, distinguish: Is the
problem minor or major? Can it be tolerated or not? If it can be tolerated,
then tolerate it. In our imperfect world, there will always be disagreements on
various things, and we just have to accept that. If, on the other hand, there
is a major problem that cannot reasonably be tolerated, stay away from the
parish. To determine this, just use common sense: If you don’t like how Mr.
So-and-So plays the organ, or how long Father’s sermons are, that’s obviously a
minor problem — deal with it. If, on the other hand, you find out that the
priest had no real seminary training or that he breaks the seal of confession,
that’s obviously something you cannot tolerate. (These are just examples.)
Again, keep in mind that since there is no functioning hierarchy in your
diocese, which is the way such problems would have been taken care of in the
past, you must resolve these things for yourself.
So then, the big
question is: Where is the nearest church for you? Where can you go to Mass?
Where can you go to confession? Where can you get spiritual direction? While we
do not wish to endorse (or not endorse) any particular parish, we would
nevertheless like to give some general guidance and suggest you use the
following directories of sedevacantist Masses:
The contents of these
directories are explained well at the links above. Look for a Mass location
that is close to you, and keep in mind that you may have to go across state or
country lines for your nearest Mass. The editors of these directories try hard
to ensure that all of the Masses listed are sedevacantist, that is, as far as
they know, the clergy who offer them profess the true Catholic Faith, are
validly ordained, and do not profess communion with any false papal claimant or
the Vatican II Sect. However, sometimes mistakes may creep in, so if you
discover one, please contact the editors of the respective directory and let
them know. What if there is no Mass or priest near you?
Depending on where you
live, it is quite possible that there is no priest and no Mass/church in your
region, or that it is not possible for you, for some reason or another, to
travel to the nearest such location. Do not panic! Remember that God does not
demand the impossible of you. If you cannot go to Mass, you cannot
go. The obligation to assist at Mass on Sundays and Holydays
automatically ceases if it is physically or morally impossible for
you to go. Besides, please consider the following helpful points:
“You only miss Mass if
you have a Mass to miss.” If there is no Mass within 1 hour of travel time near
you that meets the specified conditions above, you do not sin by not going to
Mass. (That said, remember that even though it would not be sinful, you would
still be doing your soul a great disservice if you habitually skipped Mass for
this reason even though you could reasonably go — for example, if your drive to
the nearest Mass were 1.5 hours and you just didn’t want to go.)
If your nearest Mass is
a great distance away, say, a 3 hours’ drive, and therefore you cannot go on a
weekly basis, consider going perhaps once a month, or as often as you
reasonably can. It is better you go infrequently to a real Catholic church than
not at all, or than going to a “Latin Mass” parish affiliated with the
Novus Ordo Church instead, simply because it is much closer and you would like
to attend every week.
Be willing to suffer
for our Lord. Christ Jesus suffered so much for us, shall we not suffer for
Him? The most pleasing suffering you can give to God is not the suffering you
choose for yourself, but the suffering He chooses for you, if you accept and
endure it willingly and lovingly, for His sake. This suffering can include not
having frequent or convenient access to the sacraments. We must remember that
if we are willing to compromise with regard to the Faith for the sake of
filling an emotional need, then it is not God we love but ourselves. Then we
love not Him but our feelings. Think of all the martyrs endured rather than
compromise the Faith! You must accept God’s will for you in your life.
Assist at Holy
Mass “virtually” — through the internet or by watching a video or DVD
of the Mass; see links below under “Practical Tips”. Though not a
substitute for assisting at Holy Mass physically, there are nevertheless real
graces and benefits to be obtained from “virtual assistance” at
Mass, as explained here.
Remember that
sacramental absolution is not absolutely necessary for you to be
forgiven of mortal sin. If sacramental absolution is impossible for you to
obtain, perfect contrition suffices to restore the state of
sanctifying grace; however, it is important to understand what perfect
contrition is and how it “works”. See here: What is Perfect Contrition?
Realize you are not
alone: Get in touch with other real Catholics on the internet, and you will
find out that there are others who are thinking and searching like you, perhaps
even right in your hometown. See below under “Practical Tips” for links to
various web sites where you can get to know other like-minded Catholics, who
can help you with advice, best practices, encouragement, support, getting in
contact with a priest, etc.
If you have enough
people in your area who are interested in forming a parish, you can start a new
mission and request that a priest visit you from time to time. Don’t
forget to pray! All things are possible with God! Begin with prayer, and
be patient.
Practical
Tips & Collection of Links
Here are some Catholic
forums and social/media sites you can join to get to know other Catholics and learn
more about how best to be a Catholic in these distressing times:
Subscribe to Catholic
newspapers and magazines, such as the following:
Sodalitium (Italian,
French, Spanish, some English)
Assist at Holy Mass
virtually:
Live
Webstreaming of Holy Mass every Sunday at 11:00 am ET (St. Jude Shrine
in Stafford, TX)
Live
Webstreaming of Holy Mass every Sunday at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 11:30 am,
and 5:45 pm ET (St. Gertrude in West Chester, OH)
Low Mass of
the Immaculate Conception – Online Recording
Low Mass of
the Second Sunday after the Epiphany – Online Recording
The Tridentine Latin Mass – DVD with Mass booklet
The Holy
Mass Explained (instructional only — “Mass” in this video is
not valid)
The Traditional Rosary – DVD
Get in the habit of
being perfectly contrite for your sins:
Watch, listen to, and
download traditional Catholic sermons, lectures, and conferences
Understand what has
happened to the Catholic Church: Educate yourself!
Learn the True Catholic
Faith from approved catechisms:
The
Roman Catechism (16th century) – also available in print here
My Catholic
Faith (20th century) – also available in print here
The
Baltimore Catechism No. 4 (19th century) – also available in
print here
The
Catechism Explained (20th century) – also available in print here
Read the Writings of Fr. Francis
E. Fenton, traditional Catholic pioneer
Utilize authentic
Catholic Resources: Holy Scripture, Canon Law, Magisterial Documents, etc.
We had been
warned: The
Popes warned against the Masonic Plots against the Church
How to answer the
objection that Sedevacantists are so “divided”: When the Shepherd is Struck
Why only Sedevacantism
means that the
Gates of Hell have Not Prevailed
How to respond to the
objection that we
“don’t have the authority” to say Francis isn’t Pope
Be consoled and edified
by various Catholic prophecies predicting our times, such as these:
Other prophecies found
on our Catholic
Quotes page here
Traditional
Catholic Conference & Debate on the Sede Vacante Thesis (2002) with
John Daly, John Lane, and Gerry Matatics
The History
of Christendom presented by Bp. Donald Sanborn — explains, step by
step, how we got from the glorious Middle Ages, via the Renaissance,
Reformation, and French Revolution to our distressing situation today, and
what’s ahead
Further Book
Suggestions in our virtual
book store (purchases benefit at Novus Ordo Watch)
Learn Catholic Prayers
& Devotions
The Divine Office (Roman
Breviary)
Another Divine Office site (choose
only rubrics from before 1960)
Universal Prayer for All Things Necessary for Salvation (by
Pope Clement XI)
The
Future Restoration of the Church
Now that we have shared
some important practical advice on how to spiritually survive the terrible
spiritual wasteland we have been in since 1958, the question that remains to be
answered still is when and especially how this situation
will come to an end and the Church be fully restored to her former glory.
It would be
presumptuous of anyone to claim to know the answer to this. At the same time,
there are a few things we can say with certainty, and there are other things we
may legitimately speculate about and hope for:
Believe firmly that
God can and will put an end to the Novus Ordo Sect and
restore the Catholic Church; if it pleases Him to withhold from us knowledge of
the ‘when’ and the ‘how’, may His will be done. We are not entitled
to know or understand everything.
It seems that the
crisis in the Church is of such a nature and has reached such proportions now
that it is beyond all human repair — in other words, it seems that there
is nothing we can do to set things aright, such as a papal election,
for various reasons which are outside the scope of this post to explore. The
point is that it will probably take a miraculous, supernatural intervention by
Almighty God to restore Holy Mother Church, just as it took miraculous,
supernatural divine intervention at various points in salvation history for
God’s designs to be accomplished.
Though things may seem
hopeless at times, Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth from
nothing, who parted the Red Sea, who granted David the victory over Goliath,
who can turn stones into children of Abraham (see Lk 3:8), who converted water
into wine, who fed 5,000 people with a few fragments of bread and a few fish,
who raised Lazarus from the dead, and who worked the miracle of His own
Resurrection, will certainly have a way to restore His Church fully and
gloriously in the sight of all, when the appointed time comes.
God does not require us
to know how He will accomplish the restoration of the Church; He
does, however, require us to have Faith and to persevere until the end.
We must
certainly pray that God will restore the Church soon, else we cannot
complain that it has not yet happened. We encourage you to pray the Holy Rosary
especially for the intention that God would once again grant us a true Pope. To
do this, you can join the global “Pray for a Pope” Rosary network.
There is a theological
thesis known as “Sedeprivationism”, sometimes referred to as
the “Material/Formal Theory”, or the “Cassiciacum Thesis”, which
provides a way to solve the conundrum of how we could have a true Pope again.
The theory has its strong and its weak points. People who are interested in it
may read an explanation of it here but should keep in mind that
it is not a doctrine of the Faith. We do not know if it is true, and
people can legitimately agree or disagree with it. The thesis was first
developed by the Dominican theologian Bp.
Guerard des Lauriers.
It
is possible that there has been and currently is a true Pope in
hiding, one who can trace his lineage back to Pope Pius XII. Perhaps the
situation will be resolved by this Pope emerging and proving his legitimacy. There
is a prophecy to this effect.
Do not spend too much
time trying to figure things out — it can lead to pride, vain curiosity,
dangerous ideas, and a misplaced reliance on self rather than on God. In
general, we are well-advised to seek after virtue rather than knowledge.
Certainly we may suppose that living a holy prayerful life and seeking to be
pleasing to God, cannot but hasten the day of Restoration.
Do not be overly
concerned with matters pertaining to the end of the world, wars, calamities,
and so forth. Our Blessed Lord told us not to be troubled by these
things (see Mt 24:6) — shall we doubt or contradict Him? Besides, whenever
God chooses to end our life here on earth, it will be the end of the
world for us. Be spiritually prepared, therefore.
Stay away from any sort
of unapproved alleged revelation, apparition, locution, etc. No matter how true
it might seem, there is no surer way to be misled than to attach yourself
to messages not approved by Holy Mother Church and to place your trust in
them rather than in God and in the Faith. Our Lord warned us precisely
against false “signs and wonders”, which would be so great as
to “deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mt 24:23-25).
Remember that
Sedevacantism, the position that there has been no (known) true Pope of the
Catholic Church since the death of Pius XII in 1958, and that the current
Vatican establishment is not the Catholic Church,
is entirely safe theologically. By adhering to it, you cannot be
led into heresy, nor into schism, if you are faithful to Catholic teaching.
Even supposing, for the sake of argument, that the position were false, where
would be the danger? What could you be accused of? The worst that could be said
of you is that you were wrong about who the Pope was. You believed, in good
faith, that there was no Pope when in fact there was one — but at least
you acted consistently and in accordance with Catholic teaching, to the best of
your ability and in peace with your conscience.
You could be accused of having
made a sincere mistake, nothing more; a mistake regarding the
identity of the true Pope, as many others
did before in Church history, and quite innocently. This is the worst that
could be said. You could not be accused of adhering to or spreading
false doctrine (heresy), nor of refusing to be subject to the man you
acknowledged to be the Pope (schism).
We hope all the
foregoing explanations, considerations, suggestions, and links have been of
help to you. If you still have questions, please contacts us here
In short, the answer to
the question “Now What?” is simply: “Now be a Catholic!”
Presented by Malachy
Mary Igwilo, Memorial of St. Maria Gorattti with the Octave of SS Peter and Paul, 6th July 2017.
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