One Flew Over the Remnant's Nest: Michael Matt Proclaims the Roman Catholic Church "Over," "Done"; the Holy Priesthood of the New Covenant "Destroyed," "Over"; the Holy Sacrifice "Wrecked," "Destroyed." Finally, the Catholic faithful are allies of Sodomites, sexual victims, and CNN AGAINST THE ROMAN PONTIFF, THE VICAR OF CHRIST. BUTTTTTT, we can still have a Catholic Identity Conference!

“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Dr. Chojnowski: I hated to be mellow dramatic, but I could not help but put up this promise made to St. Peter that his Faith and the Office which would proclaim that Faith, would be the foundation of the true Church of Jesus Christ and that it would be impossible for "the gates of hell" to prevail against it. I lifted the quote from the Online version of the KING JAMES BIBLE. Even the quintessential Protestant text gets this quotation right.
I have spent a couple of days trying to "wrap my mind around" what Michael Matt says in this video. The fundamental problem I have with the video is when he points his thumb over his shoulder and says, "This is over" and then fans his hands out to the whole of Bernini's colonnade and says, "This whole thing is done." Is he a Lutheran tour guide, perhaps? But no, he is a "traditional Catholic" who is in Rome to be horrified at the "sexual scandals" of the "Catholic clergy." Are we sure that this guy is not from Stockholm? Isn't St. Peter's Basilica the very image of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, how can any one point to it and say, "It is done"?

The "happy Lutheran language" does not stop there. Not only is the Church "over," but he also says that the Priesthood is "destroyed," "It is destroyed, it is over." The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is "wrecked" and "destroyed." And he seems happy when saying it. Too much Margarita flavored gelato? Too many bags of sugar in the espresso? My first thought here is that someone should have woken up the Holy Ghost, because this was NOT supposed to happen. Church, Mass, Priesthood, the Faith destroyed. Certainly "destroyed" in the Holy See, apparently, because the Remnant group could not find a random "Latin Mass" to attend in St. Peter's. One thing here, who with any concept of what is happening in the world today would think that, unless you brought your own traditional priest and had him beg the sacristans in St. Peter's vestry, you would walk into that church now and find, by chance,  a "Latin Mass"? 

The explanations for the never-ending "crisis" --- one thinks, how long can it be normal and everyday and still be a "crisis" -- are a bit disheartening. Mr. Matt's puts emphasis on priests wearing "many vestments" and points out that the clerical sexual scandals --- mostly pederastic scandals really --- is because "they do not know the difference between laity and priests." Hah? So the laity can do that stuff? Mr. Matt's commentary runs together the rather distinct concepts of "church" and "Church." He emphasizes that "they" made it "Protestant." Are the NewChurch worship-assembly buildings "Protestant" or is the Catholic Church been made "Protestant"? The constant focus on accidentals, as if they were essentials, continues when he says the priest, "sits up there like a clown, with women and homosexuals." I suppose he is speaking about the Novus Ordo service but to speak of a priest performing his sacred office as "like a clown" surely should make a Catholic shiver. 

The "problem" we find out is that, "the priest's job has been so diminished." "Diminished," "Does not have much to do any more"? A priest now does "crazy" stuff? Is THAT it? 

Accidentals are emphasized and essentials, like the heresies of Vatican II are downplayed. Mr. Matt insists that the problem is Vatican II, BUTTTTT not the actual documents of Vatican II -- in other words, NOT Vatican II --- but the "Spirit of Vatican II." Having revealed that one of the most high profile "traditional Catholic laymen" has read "some" of the documents of Vatican II and found that some were "nice" or "ok" but some documents of the Ecumenical Council, promulgated by the Supreme Pontiff were "absurd." Toward the end of the clip, he says, "The Catholic Church is a joke." So calling priests "clowns," dogmatic constitutions "absurd," and the Catholic Church a "joke" is supposed to give "traditional" Catholics great reason for hope. 

 But Michael Matt "wants to end on a positive note" --- is this his normal procedure, I don't know --- he insists that "traditional Catholics" or "we" --- whether that includes me or any of the readers of this blog is subject to doubt --- "are so close now, don't give up, don't get discouraged." Why? Because "taking to many people" "the pontificate of Francis is over." And we speak about this man who still has "the pontificate" as someone who, "may rattle around here in Rome for a while more, but, he's completely discredited." Finally, "the traditional Catholic THING is the answer" because the "Catholic Church is a joke." 

I will switch to red, after my summary of Michael Matt's comments, in an attempt to really reflect on all of what was said here. First of all, you might say, You know what he means! The problem here is that we are too used to such language that we don't even logically and theologically think about it any more. When we actually consider it, we would think that we are dealing with a militant Baptist anti-Catholic preacher. How can this line of action and speech and thought be productive when we are participating in the same kind of destructive action, the same kind of, scorched earth policy that  the modernists, homosexuals, and leftists are involved in. Does it really matter if they come running in the left gate of the Sacred City and we come in the right gate of the Sacred City. Our language is just as demeaning and derogatory. Have the "defenders of the Church" become the barbarians --- perhaps they being worse than the left-wing barbarians --- since they know where the sacred places are? If we are attacking priesthood, pope, Mass, Church how are we "traditional" "Catholics." 

What can we do to stop participating in the scorched earth galas in Rome that have become to frequent. How should we approach the whole reality? The most apparent and, really, undeniable truths should be stated first, 1) All public heretics, apostates, schismatics, or excommunicates are outside the Catholic Church; so after some 60 years of rampant Modernism there is a Remnant ---- hey! ---- left. They constitute the Catholic Church. Without the True Faith one cannot be in the True Church. So most of those who only appear to be Catholics, but do not have the Catholic Faith, are not ACTUAL Catholics, but rather occupy the pews and chanceries where real Catholics should be; 2) A serious consideration of the fact that according to Church doctrine, a destroyed intention can invalidate the sacraments of the Church, hence, stopping up the channels of grace. What can happen after 3 generations of vitiated intentions. If you check out both Archbishop Lefebvre's book, "A Bishop Speaks" with articles from 1972, he clearly speaks of the day, which he believed was close at hand, in which the sacraments would be invalidated because of vitiated intention, not to mention the dubious new rite of priestly ordination and the almost certainly invalid rite of episcopal ordination, both departing from the bare minimum form demanded by Pope Pius XII. Bastard Mass, Bastard Priests, and Bastard Sacraments --- and a Counterfeit Church. How could we believe that the evil ones who planned all this would achieve anything less? 

But of course there are still real sacraments, real priests, real bishops, and real Masses --- and our occupied Catholic basilicas which are never going to be "over".