By Father Paul Kramer
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| John Salza |
Salza and Siscoe take issue with my entirely orthodox comment
that, "The visible entity will be APOSTATE. The true Church will be a
remnant in hiding. The Church will be briefly INVISIBLE, as the Fathers teach.
"According to their grotesquely distorted and fundamentalistic notion of
the Church, that which has been clearly foretold in scripture and expounded by
the Fathers and by ecclesiastical writers through the ages of Catholicism,
constitutes a denial of the indefectibility visibility of the Church. However,
as we have seen in the preceding segment of this article, it is Salza and
Siscoe who deny Catholic doctrine by maintaining that the Church will not be
reduced to a small number during the reign of Antichrist; and similarly, the
diminution of the Church's visibility correlative to its reduction in numbers
as a logical corollary of that reduction of numbers.
Cardinal Manning expounds meticulously and at some length,
citing the writings of the Fathers and other eminent authorities, that Rome
will apostatize, and a counterfeit entity will rise in Rome, where the Vicar of
Christ formerly reigned – a pagan counterfeit entity will rise in its place.
The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will cease, and counterfeit pagan worship will
take its place.
Fr. E. Sylvester Berry, D.D., in The Church of Christ, An
Apologetic and Dogmatic Treatise, explains, “The prophecies of the
Apocalypse show that Satan will imitate the Church of Christ to deceive
mankind; he will set up a church of Satan in opposition to the Church of
Christ. Antichrist will assume the role of Messias; his prophet will act the
part of Pope, and there will be imitations of the Sacraments of the Church.”
(p. 119). Since the scriptures themselves foretell that the reign of Antichrist
will be universal, the false worship of the apostate entity will be globally
imposed. (Apoc. 13:7-8) Thus, Fr. Berry says, “there seems to be no reason why
a false Church might not become universal, even more universal than the true
one, at least for a time.” (p.155).
Even after the cessation of the Holy Sacrifice, when the
Church, reduced to a small number and nearly everywhere in hiding, will appear
to have been swept from the face of the earth; even then, the essential marks
of catholicity, and the essential attribute of indefectibility and its
corresponding visibility will remain intact, although diminished for a time. In
The Divine Plan of The Church, by the
Rev. John MacLaughlin, (Burns & Oates, London, 1901. Chapter VI, on
indefectibility. Pp. 93-94.), we read:
“We concede, moreover, that there may have been occasions in
the past (and such intervals may occur in the future) when, through the
opposition of anti-popes and a variety of untoward circumstances, it was
difficult for individuals for the moment to tell where the right source of authoritative
teaching was to be found.
“This, however, does not change the state of the case in the
least; the one true Church was in the world somewhere all the same, and in full
possession of all her essential prerogatives, although, for the passing hour –
from transient causes – she may not have been easily discernible to the less
observant.
“Just as there have been times when some dense fog or mist
made it impossible for the ordinary observer to tell the exact spot the sun
occupied in the sky, although everybody knew that he was there somewhere; knew,
too, that he would in due course make the exact location of his presence
visible to all, and that, as soon as the mist lifted, his rays would come
straight to the earth again, and every one would see that he was identically
the same luminous orb that had shone before.”
Thus the accusation made by Salza and Siscoe, that "By
claiming that the “visible entity” will become “apostate,” Fr. Kramer, in a
single sentence, has just publicly denied the indefectibility of the
Church", is plainly seen not only to be false, but contrary to the plain
teaching of scripture as understood according to the mind of the Church.
"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,
and to overcome them. And power was given him over every tribe, and people, and
tongue, and nation.
And all that dwell upon the earth adored him, whose names are
not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the beginning
of the world."
(To be continued).
See
also: A Reply to John Salza and Robert Siscoe (Part I)
A Reply to John Salza and Robert
Siscoe (Part II)
A Reply to John Salza and Robert
Siscoe (Part III) http://traditionalcatholicisminnigeria.blogspot.com.ng/2016/08/a-reply-to-john-salza-part-iii.html,
A Reply to John Salza and Robert
Siscoe III (continued)
http://traditionalcatholicisminnigeria.blogspot.com.ng/2016/08/a-reply-to-john-salza-and-robert-siscoe.html,
and RE: OUR REPLIES TO FR. PAUL KRAMER http://traditionalcatholicisminnigeria.blogspot.com.ng/2016/08/re-our-replies-to-fr-paul-kramer.html
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