By Father Paul Kramer
 |
| John Salza |
"Scrutati
sunt iniquitates; defecerunt scrutantes scrutinio" (Ps. 63)
Using the methods so chronically
used by Masons, the former (?) Mason Salza and his partner Siscoe falsify my
position by craftily misrepresenting it; and then they proceed to refute the
caricature of their own making. Salza/Siscoe claim, "Fr. Kramer errs by
confusing the predictions of an underground Church during the end times, with a
farcical reduction of the number of faithful to only a handful, and ends by
denying the mark of catholicity." This is a bold faced lie: Nowhere have I
ever stated such a thing.
Again, Salza/Siscoe state falsely,
" [T]he problem with Fr. Kramer’s position is that he conflates an
underground Church (which the Fathers predicted during the end times) with a
Church consisting of only few members". Following the perverse dictum of
the Freemason Voltaire, ("Mentez,
mentez, il en restera toujours quelque chose".), Salza/Siscoe brazenly
repeat the lie, hoping that something of it will stick in the minds of their
unfortunate readers. Again, I have not asserted the proposition that the
universal Church will be reduced to only a mere handful of scattered members;
but only that during the exceptional time foretold in sacred scripture and
permitted by God, the Church will be greatly reduced, and scattered; as many
approved and eminent authorities have explained.
Salza/Siscoe skilfully
misrepresent my position by deftly interpreting a quotation expressed in the
conditional mode, according to an indicative sense. Thus, their bogus
interpretation of the (in fact spurious) words attributed to St. Athanasius,
“Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the
ones that are the true Church of Christ." These words do not state that
the Church will in fact be literally reduced to a mere handful, but express in
hypothetical mode that IF such a thing WERE to happen, then that small group
WOULD still be the true Church of Christ. Hence, there is absolutely nothing
heterodox about the quotation; but it is only the malicious spinning of it by
Salza/Siscoe that makes it seem heretical. It is in fact no more heretical than
the prophecy of Our Lord Jesus Christ who foretold that in the time of tribulation,
"there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great
signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect."
(Mt. 24:24)
If the elect were really to be
deceived, then the defection of the Church would result, thereby nullifying the
attribute of indefectibility promised by Christ Himself. However, the
conditional qualifying "if" does not permit such an heretical
interpretation of the verse to be made; and that same qualifying "if"
in the spurious Athanasius quotation likewise rules out categorically that its
meaning may be interpreted heretically to mean that the Church will indeed be
reduced to a mere handful.
Furthermore, the spurious
quotation is not the basis of my theological opinion on the exceptional
circumstances that will befall the Church during the great tribulation foretold
in scripture, by the ancient Fathers, and in the approved writings of many saints
and theologians. I have already set forth what is the basis of my position in
my brief article (and in previous posts and comments), "Re: My Reply to
John Salza" – which manifests the absurdity of the Salza/ Siscoe claim
that, "By embracing the spurious quote, Fr. Kramer errs by denying an
essential mark of the Church."
As I have shown, the quotation
does not deny an essential mark of the Church, and the quotation is not the
basis of my theological opinion. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote against the errors of
the Greeks, supporting his position with spurious quotations of the Fathers.
The fact that many of the passages he cited were later shown to be spurious did
not diminish the orthodoxy of his opuscule,
Contra Errores Græcorum – and neither does the fact that the Athanasius
quotation is in fact spurious diminish in the least the orthodoxy of my
theological position on the tribulation the Church will undergo in the time of
tribulation.
I did not say that the Church will
be reduced to a handful. What I did say is that the Church will be greatly
reduced, and driven into the catacombs in the manner described by Cardinal
Edward Manning. Salza/Siscoe engage in the verbal manipulation of relative
terms like "large" and "small", in the deliberate attempt
to misrepresent me in a heretical manner. In the great tribulation in which it
can be foreseen that a great portion of humanity will perish, and a huge number
of Catholics will apostatize, one can safely conclude, without violating the
principle of "moral catholicity" that the total number of Catholics
will be significantly reduced to a small number in comparison to what it was
before.
The manner in which it will be
reduced to in visibility and in numbers is described by Cardinal Manning:
“The apostasy of the city of Rome
from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts very
new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians
of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states
as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius
that Rome shall apostatize from the Faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and
return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven
into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning,
invisible; hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a
time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the
universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church.” (Henry Edward Cardinal
Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy
See, 1861, London: Burns and Lambert,
pp. 88-90).
(To be continued).
See also: A Reply to John Salza (Part I)
See also: A Reply to John Salza (Part I)
A Reply to John
Salza (Part II)
and RE: OUR REPLIES TO FR. PAUL KRAMER
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