Dumb, Sleeping Dog: A Tale of A Nominal Dominican

 Preamble:

A representation of the dream of St. Dominic's Mother of a dog leaping from her womb with a torch in its mouth which seemed to set the earth on fire. The dream taken as a sign of a great child she was to bear: St. Dominic -the Lord's [Watch] Dog...

"His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams" (Isaias 56:10)

    A very common proverb has it that "ignorance is a bliss". This is supposed to mean that if one is unaware of an unpleasant fact or situation one cannot be troubled by it. But is it true? that ignorance, i.e., lack of due knowledge; is a bliss? Well, it would seem that only one lacking due knowledge could respond in the affirmative...    

    What damage ignorance is not capable of! Imagine what could result from the service of an ignorant doctor, or pilot, or captain, or driver, or teacher etc... Many lives have been lost due to ignorance; and more importantly, many souls lost on account of the services of false teachers! Could one in conscience say that 'ignorance is a bliss'? 

    Eight days after the Episcopal Consecration of Bishop Nkamuke the administrator of a Facebook media page, "Magnificat Series", took it upon himself to begin a series of publication with the title "TRUE CATHOLICISM Ep. 1". This was brought to my notice by a faithful in one of our missions. He noted how he has had to engage the author, a 'Dominican', in the past on themes bordering on the Vatican II question, and how the same have evaded accepted invitations for public debate on the points disputed. 

    When I shared the article titled "TRUE CATHOLICISM Ep. 1" with someone, he found it to be a "very lazy write up" and "not worth the read." I am of the same persuasion, as far as the climax of the article is at stake. Now, could we have been mistaken about it due to some biases? Let an objective reader be the judge! 

The Climax of TRUE CATHOLICISM Ep. 1"

The author gave a rather interesting, and indeed commendable, tour of the history of the Church in relation to persecutions and persecutors; external - by emperors and secular powers; and, internal - by heretics. 

This historical peregrination was meant to set the stage to make his reader appreciate the status of those:

"...persecutors of the Church parading themselves as the true Catholics and talking down on the Church, the Second Vatican Council and her Ministers"

These "persecutors", he identified as 'Sedevacantists" when he went on to affirm the following: 

 I was shocked when I heard a man who calls himself a sedevacantist assert that all priests in the Church are nothing but laymen. Usually they appear as thought angels but in reality they are hirelings willingly intent on causing confusion and commotion in the Church.

One of such commotion and confusion took place on the first day of May when the sedevacantist group went ahead to ordain someone bishop…this episcopal consecration did not follow the laws and proceedings of the Church of Rome in matters related to the installing a bishop…

 With that said, he went on to urge his readers thus 

"while I leave you to judge the validity of this ordination I wish to beg that YOU REMAIN AND TRULY CATHOLIC…"

Meanwhile, to crown it all, he went to make bold and emphatic affirmations and professions, ending it all with an authoritative signature, a seal of authentication: 

  SEDEVACANTISM IS NOT CATHOLICISM!

LIBERALISM IS NOT CATHOLICISM!

CATHOLICISM IS BEING IN COMMUNION WITH CHRIST AND THE FAITHFUL THROUGH THE VISIBLE HEAD HE INSTITUTED (THE POPE, BISHOPS, PRIESTS etc). CATHOLICISM MEANS KNOWING THAT THE CHURCH MAY SHAKEN, TRIED AND EVEN APPEAR TO BE IN THE DARK… BUT SHE STILL HAS JESUS WITHIN; WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO BRING TOTAL PEACE WITH THE WORDS “PEACE BE STILL”

I STAND WITH THE CHURCH

I BELIEVE ALL THE COUNCILS TAUGHT

I BELIEVE IN THE WORD OF GOD

I BELIEVE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I BELIEVE IN GOD FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.

PREACHING-FRIAR@2023

One thing is obvious: the climax of this episode in the 'Magnificat Series' under scrutiny is packed with compelling themes betraying, not only a laughable marriage between a certain species of ignorance and intellectual laziness, but also a certain species of ignorance mixed with an element of malice. To deal with the themes minutely as deserved, one would have to undertake hundred pages of well researched doctoral degree theses. For our purposes here, it suffices to get to the basics which will show that what his article promotes is neither "Catholicism" nor "True"... 

    Quick Facts 

Any student of the history of the Church unfailingly knows that on account of ignorance of what Christianity is, the early Christians were persecuted by cultured paganism and savage heathenism as being cannibals, enemies of the state, Sowers of discord, etc. Was that ignorance in any way a bliss? by no means!

• Our "Preaching-Friar", being a victim of  a laughable marriage between a certain species of ignorance and intellectual laziness, would have his audience believe that Sedevacantists are "internal persecutors" of the Church, and "talk down on the Church". On the contrary, however, their single-hearted goal is to prove to all with a listening ear that the Roman Catholic Church is the only True Church - the Infallible and Indefectible Pure Bride and Mystical of Christ, the Ground of Truth and that Modernist universal impostor church occupying Roman Catholic institutions and properties is simply an impostor church. A little diligence on his part would have made him to know that the 'second Vatican council', having modernism for its animating principle, is not only non-Catholic but indeed anti-Catholic. He most certainly needs to educate himself on the iron-clad logic of the Sedevacantist postiton. 
• In the same way, a little diligence would have made him to know that Sedevacantists do not talk down on the 'ministers' of the Church. Applying the objective principles of Catholic Dogmatic and Sacramental theology, they simply draw the logical conclusion that the pioneers of the modernist impostor church occupying Catholic buildings were apostate apostles, on the one hand; and that the ministers of this same church to-day, being paraded as Catholic Bishops or Priests are simply lay-robed men. This fact a disinterested research student can verify with no hard feelings. 
• As a steppingstone toward affirming the Sedevacantists to be 'internal persecutors' of the Church to-day, our "Preaching Friar' stated that: "We read from history about the thunderous results many priest [sic] and heretics who occupied influential positions in the Church brought about when they left the Church. Many of them like Martin Luther drew thousands and thousands of Catholics away from obeying the Vicar of Christ the Pope". Just a little diligence would have made him to know that Sedevacantists reject the Modernist hierarchy precisely because they are continuing the impiety of Martin Luther both in doctrine and in worship: would that he reads An Examination of the Shocking Similarities Between the New Mass and Luther's "Mass"! And, of course, a quick perusal of Fr. Cekada's "Work of Human Hands" would come in handy as well... 
• More so, with a little diligence, our 'Preaching Friar' would have known that if there is any 'confusion' in the minds of people to-day concerning the Church, the Modernist impostors, and not the Sedevacantists, are to blame. No doubts, he is in need of a Catholicity test... 
• Fully aware that Liberalism is a sin, we cannot but commend him for knowing that 'Liberalism is not Catholicism". However, it is surprising that, while he claims to have read Pope St. Pius X's condemnation of the doctrines of the modernists, [as he affirmed in a reply to someone suggesting he does so], he could not see in modernism the flowering of liberalism. If he did, we are even more surprised that he is yet to see modernism as the spirit of Vatican II.   
• Referring to the Episcopal Consecration of the Most Rev. Bede Nkamuke, our "Preaching-Friar", appeals to his readers to be the judges concerning the 'validity' of the 'ordination' having for his compass, not the principles of Catholic Sacramental theology, but sentimentality, which has no place in Catholic Theological tradition. While he confuses 'validity' with 'liceity', a little diligence would have made him to know that that Episcopal Consecration was both 'valid' and 'licit'.  
• It is pitiably laughable for one to affirm, as our Preaching-Friar"  does, "I stand with the Church", "I bleieve all that the Councils taught", "I believe in the Catholic Church"; and still accept Vatican II Council as Catholic, and signed up in the modernist agency for the propagation of its heresy on the nature and identity of the Church of Christ; its heresy on ecumenism; its heresy on religious liberty; its heresy of collegiality; its heresy of other religions as means of salvation, etc... Only crass ignorance or malice could be the principle of such a state of affairs. But, I am afraid, [and the ready may easily see why] our Preaching-Friar would not stoop so low as to plead ignorant... 
• Just a little diligence would have made our "Preaching-Friar" to know without any iota of doubt that at the dawn of the modernist uprising, Pope St. Pius X, in instituting the "Oath Against Modernism", ordained that being "Catholic" and "Anti-Modernist" become coextensive. And a diligent carrying out of his homework would have revealed to him that in the face of the Modernist usurpation of Catholic hierarchy and institutions for the diabolical purposes of the enemies of the Cross, to be Catholic cannot but be coterminous with being Sedevacantist, since, given the state of affairs, the idea of being "Anti-Modernist" is best communicated by the Sedevacantists stance.
• Our 'Preaching Friar' would have his readers believe that Sedevacantists are not in "communion with Christ and the Faithful through the visible head He instituted...". Just a little diligence would have helped him to recognize their impeccable devotion to the "visible head" instituted by Jesus Christ, the invisible Head of the Church. Yes. Taking seriously the mutual exclusivity, according to the Divine Law, of the Papacy and the teaching of heresies, they simply affirm the objective fact that the Seat of Blessed Peter, the Seat of the Pope, untouched by any stain of heresy in general, and the Modernist heresy in particular, has been empty since 1958 to date. In their firm belief in the Petrine office, they are firmly resolved that the vacancy of the Papal Seat is not a licence to join forces with the enemies of the Faith through indifference and compromise. Schooled by St. Athanasius in Catholic intransigence, they know that "even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ". They know that they must love the Catholic Faith more than their own lives and fancies: that it would be better to die than to compromise the Catholic Faith in so much as an iota.

Canis Domini: The Lord's Dog!

    Now, a quick search reveals that "dog" is mentioned about forty-two times in the Sacred Scriptures, either in the singular or plural, for different reasons. In the context which our choice text quoted at the beginning of this article from the prophet Isaias is taken, dog" is used to represent and describe the watchmen of Israel. We dare to say that this text comes in handy in an attempt to tell the tale of a "nominal Dominican" - i.e. one who lays claims to being, and being called "a Dominican" but is, not only, stuck in the cesspool of the synthesis of all heresies: Modernism; but also actively signed up in the agency of the most pernicious of the adversaries of the Church: Modernists.

     Having darling Sister Patience for a companion, the reader is sure to see exactly how apt this choice text is for our purposes... 

    A most common legend says that during a pilgrimage, St. Dominic's mother had a dream of a dog leaping from her womb with a torch in its mouth; and that it seemed to set the earth on fire. This was taken as a sign of a great child she was to bear. Thus, playing on the Latin words "Domini canis" which means "the Lord's Dog", his parents named him Dominic. 

    Take that for a trivia or a starting point for a bestselling doctorate degree thesis... 

    Howbeit, it is an undisputed fact that in an era when the union of sensuality and heresy found it's peculiar show off in the ALBIGENSES, St. Dominic, in using science, as a means of obtaining the glory of God and the salvation of souls, was acclaimed "extirpator of heresies". With science as a ready tool in the hands of his disciples who glory in his name as "Dominicans", to their moral body was addressed the call to become the chief support of the Sovereign Pontiff in uprooting pernicious doctrines, heresies. 

    By a play on words therefore, a 'Dominican' is the Lord's Dog, watchdog: entrusted with the duty to check and extirpate any illegality and irresponsibility in matters concerning the purity of doctrine and rectitude of morals, always at the service of the Universal Shepherd of souls, the Supreme Pontiff. 

    The big question is this: for one who glories in the "Dominican" name, but is blind to the synthesis of all heresies; ignorant of his being stuck in the cesspool of the synthesis of all heresies, and his being actively signed up in the agency of the most pernicious of the adversaries of the Church to spread the fruits of the synthesis of all heresies; dumb and not able to bark at the synthesis of all heresies; but, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams barks at  Catholics uncompromising with the synthesis of all heresies and the most pernicious adversaries of the Church; for such a one, I say, what is the best description if not a nominal Dominican? That is, a Dominican only in name...  I await a better description from anyone charitable enough to make a studied objection. 

In an age of subjectivism and sentimentality, it is never possible to call a spade, spade without being regarded as being offensive and guilty of hate-speech. But, you see? our duty to truth obliges us to call spade, spade… 

A Model Dominican

     In 1946, a true son of St. Dominic, one not only a 'Domincan' in name, Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P, a true Preaching-Friar; published an article titled "Where is the New Theology Leading us?"  in Rome’s Angelicum, one of the most prestigious theological journals. In this article, he warned that the “New Theology" of the "New Theological Movement" is nothing more than a revitalized Modernism, the "synthesis of all heresies". This is because, just like Modernism, the starting point for the 'New Theology' is the substitution of a subjective and vital notion of truth for the objective, perverting the eternal concept of truth, thus breaking with Catholic theological tradition. Noteworthy is that this same new theology was subsequently condemned by Pope Pius XII in Humani Generis.  

    True to his being the Lords 'whatchdog', Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P 'barked' at those 'internal persecutors' of the Church of his time; the neo-modernists. 

    Now, it is no secret that by admission of its own adherents, this modernist “new theology" became “the official theology of Vatican II”. I have a fairly clear image of my lecturer in modernist-dressed-as-Catholic major seminary categorically affirming this with an air of pomposity. Yes, it was said that the new theology of the new theological movement became the official theology of the 'Church' at Vatican II, and that this was the best thing to have happened to the Church in modern times, since this new theology helped the 'Church' to abandon her old theology of exclusivity to embrace that of inclusivity....  

A Paradoxical Parallel

    Now: 

• The Dominican, Father Garrigou-Lagrange, making deductions from objective principles and facts, saw in the 'New Theology' a revitalized Modernism in thought and action. For doing this, he is rightly hailed as a true son of Holy Mother Church, the Ground of Truth. 
• Sedevacantists, appealing to objective principles of Catholic dogmatic and sacramental theology on the one hand, and to objective facts on the other hand, affirm that Vatican II, -having for its official theology the proscribed 'New Theology' and for its spirit Modernism-, is not only not Catholic but anti-Catholic; and that, the substantial doctrinal and sacramental changes born of this non, nay anti-Catholic source cannot come from the Church whose Infallible Guide is the Spirit of Truth. For saying this, a "Dominican" of this age ranks them among the "internal persecutors of the Church"... 

    Why such a paradox? 

    Well, we must find the root in the disparity between the paradigm of Father Garrigou-Lagrange, and that of his supposed 'confrere' of to-day: the former, a champion of objectivity of truth, used science -i.e. the knowledge of things from their causes; while the later, schooled and immersed in modernist subjectivism, uses sentimentalism: there is no iota of a hermeneutics of continuity...  No! such is the tale of a nominal Dominican....   

    One with an informed Catholic Sense cannot but lament: "how are the valiant fallen in battle? ...how are the valiant fallen and the weapons of war perished? [2 Sam. 1: 25; 27]. 

In Fine... 

    However, we are in no way scandalized. Did not Our Blessed Lord said, "the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God"? [John 16:2] . Our "Preaching Friar", nominal Dominican for sure, takes it upon himself to 'kill' the reputation of Sedevacantists thinking himself to be doing service to God and His Holy Church. Of his people St. Paul would say "I bear them witness that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" [Rom. 10:2]. With our eyes drenched with tears of Catholic Charity, concerning our 'Preaching Friar' we cannot but say that we "bear him witness that he has a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge'. 

    Dear reader, ignorance in the matter at stake is not a bliss. No. It is a crime.