Edited by Jonathan Ekene Ifeanyi
Archbishop Athanasius Schneider is
the Archbishop of Kazakhstan. His name is—in my view—interesting and rather
significant. It was St Athanasius who fought the Arian Heresy of the 3rd
Century, and while the majority of Catholics fell for the Arian heresy,
Athanasius was banished for his views and he was literally "contra mundum". But St Athanasius
was proved right in the end. Basically the Arian heresy was started by a man
called Arius, who said that Jesus Christ was a lesser being than God—in other
words, he denied the divinity of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Archbishop
Schneider is the author of a little book called "Dominus Est"—a really good book, and available on Amazon.
Written in 2010, he is arguing for the case of stopping the evil modernist
practice of receiving “Holy Communion” in the hand. He strongly puts forward
the case of receiving on the tongue. In this exclusive interview with French journalist
and blogger Jeanne Smits,
Athanasius Schneider, a “conservative” Novus Ordo
auxiliary bishop in Kazakhstan, sounds off on Francis, Kasper, and
the controversial Synod in Rome, his error being his recognition of Francis 1 as pope. Below we present several highlights of this interview, which was released on June 5, 2015. A translated excerpt of the June 5, 2015 post on the Jeanne Smits blog, this is an unauthorized, unofficial translation from the French post by Novus Ordo Watch. The original French post is available at:
http://leblogdejeannesmits.blogspot.com/2015/06/une-interview-exclusive-de-mgr.html.]
Excerpts
from “Exclusive
Interview with Bishop Schneider on the Synod: The True Pastoral Welcoming
of ‘Remarried’ Divorced Persons” conducted by Jeanne Smits
In the following text, the words of the interviewer, Jeanne Smits, are rendered in black italics, the
words of Bishop Athanasius Schneider in regular black font.
Interviewer:
“...This raises a terrible question.
It was Pope Francis who appointed the Secretary General of the Synod,
Archbishop Bruno Forte, it was he who asked for the closed doors during the
first week... What can be his responsibility?”
Archbishop
Athanasius Schneider:
“His responsibility, it must be to
God. He has his conscience. In the Church there is a principle: Prima
sedes a nemine judicatur. The first see can be judged by no one. It is
this which I must follow. Perhaps after
his (Francis’) pontificate there could be judgments about his behaviour.”
Interviewer:
“Cardinal Kasper would say the Eucharist is precisely an aid for
sinners, a food which would help these persons [in a sinful sexual union]...”
Archbishop Athanasius Schneider:
“That is false and untrue. These persons are sick, sick in
their souls. To a diabetic, I cannot give sugar—I would kill him. Even though
sugar is good for persons in good health. This diabetic loves sugar, he has
eaten it all his life. I refuse him sugar and he accuses me of being cruel to
him and asks me to give it back to him. I will answer him, “No, I will not give
it to you, because you are diabetic, I would kill you.” Cardinal Kasper lies to
the souls of these persons by giving them communion. It is a very irresponsible
behaviour.”
Interviewer:
"At the synod there was nothing in either the interim report or the final
report about mortal sin, about heaven or hell.”
Archbishop Athanasius Schneider:
"That is very sad. All of the Gospel, all the letters of
the Apostles, the Fathers of the Church speak clearly of the dangers of sin;
they speak of repentance and grace. This is the language of Jesus: He always
called to repentance. He would say: Receive grace, pray; He would speak of the
Kingdom of Heaven, He would call people to look towards the Kingdom, the
supernatural. This omission—that is to say, not having spoken of mortal sin at
the synod—I consider it very grave.”
Interviewer:
“One cannot say the same
thing of the ordinary Christian who sins but communicates; is it not a question
of distinguishing between mortal sin and venial sin?”
Archbishop Athanasius Schneider:
“The question here is not one of mortal sin or venial sin, it is one of
repentance. I repent of what I have done. In the case of remarried divorced
persons, Cardinal Kasper and his allies are dispensing them from repentance.
They continue in mortal sin without repenting because they do not admit that
their sexual acts—which are sexual acts outside of a valid marriage—are mortal
sins. That is the problem.”
Interviewer:
“You have
called Christians, and particularly lay Christians, to resist, including
resisting their bishops if they should see them not defending the truth. At the
present time it seems to me that many lay people are in confusion regarding the
message which is coming from the Church. What must we do, and how to be sure of
remaining in orthodoxy?”
Archbishop Athanasius
Schneider:
“It is necessary to remain faithful to the vows of one’s
baptism. At baptism, you promised to remain faithful to the faith, not to a
part of the faith, but to the integrality of the Catholic faith. You did not
make your baptismal vows to the pope, or to your bishop, but to God, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. And thus you must render an account after your death, not
to the pope or to the bishop, but to God. This is why we must maintain our
fidelity, and even be prepared to die for each truth of the Catholic faith.
Unfortunately, today, in the crisis in which we live, certain representatives
of the hierarchy, certain bishops or cardinals, are trying to destroy a part of
the faith, on the question of remarried divorced persons, for example. We must
therefore resist, for when one maintains the truth, one defends the
Church — it is this that is orthodox….”
[end of excerpt]
Source: Novus Ordo Watch
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