The Two Standards
On April 17, 2024, Bishop Bernard Fellay, SSPX, delivered the funeral sermon for Bishop Huonder, in Ecône. Two days later, Bishop Bonnemain preached at Chur Cathedral, in front of a portrait of his predecessor. The two sermons reveal two different doctrines.
Bishop Fellay recalled Catholic doctrine: “If the good God allows us to be a sign of contradiction, it is not for the sake of contradiction. This is because Our Lord Himself, according to the prophecy of Simeon, is this sign of contradiction [cf. Lk. 2:34]. He who brings peace to men of good will becomes a sign of contradiction. And whoever wants to live with Our Lord – this is a word of Holy Scripture –‘whoever wants to live piously for Our Lord will suffer persecution’ [cf. 2 Tim. 3:12].…It is a mystery.”
He added: “It has been like this since the beginning, and it is for this that the Church on earth, since the beginning, has been called the Church Militant. The Church will always have to suffer from hatred: ‘the world hateth you’ [cf. Jn. 15:18]. And Our Lord presented this as something absolutely normal: ‘The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn. 15:20). And this cross, this suffering, it is what God chose in order to satisfy, to make up for sin, to save us.’”
Bishop Bonnemain did not speak of a militant Church, but of a “synodal” Church, not without having previously criticized Bishop Huonder's decision to be buried in Ecône. He sees it as the choice of a “last resting place, in the intact world of [Bishop Huonder's] imagination.” And he insists: “Our Redeemer and Savior, the only true good shepherd, gave His life for us. But not for us to isolate ourselves in a sane world – sheltered from the dangerous world – but so that, in the midst of our world as it is, in the Church, here and now, thanks to His love and His friendship, we can be harbingers of salvation through our life and our actions.”
Then he delivered his new profession of faith: “It is crucial that we all form a truly synodal Church. A Church in which we can all say to each other: you are not a servant, you are my friend, you are my brothers and sisters in faith, I am happy to give my life for you. The Church has a hierarchy, there are different ministries and different tasks, but at the same time there is a priesthood common to all believers and, I would say, a common pastoral care. If we live fraternity and synodality in this way, we should not be afraid of the pagan world, but rather we feel the joy of being on the way to this world, in this world, and with this world towards the eternal homeland.”
Bishop Fellay recalls that the life of the disciple of Jesus Christ is a crucified life. Bishop Bonnemain responds, “It is crucial that we form a true synodal Church.” They are not the same priorities!
It is truly crucial to find Jesus, as St. Paul teaches us: “For I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” [1 Cor. 2:2]. – Everything else is futility… or synodality!
Fr. Alain Lorans, SSPX
(Source : NDC n°207 – FSSPX.Actualités)
