Translate this document!
Objections have been raised by those who claim that the 'concelebrated event' would not have the effect I ascribe to it. Thus some claim that the valid orders of the Catholic clergy present would in effect 'overrule' the invalid orders of the Protestant minister. Let me start by putting this event in context. It would have come about as the result of an 'Inter-Church Process' authorised by Pope John Paul II. As stated when he came to Britain he was urged by the leaders of the BCC to allow the hierarchy to take part in their organisation. He then invited them to Rome to continue the discussion1 and the outcome was evident in 1984 when the BCC, SCC and the UK Catholic hierarchies - launched the above 'Process',2 culminating in the Catholic Church joining an ecumenical organisation replacing the BCC et al, in 1990.
When the Pope later met the Scottish Bishops he commended them for taking part in this new organisation.3 That clear support effectively implicates the rest of the Church in the outcome. Remember that the entry of the Catholic Church into this organisation was hailed as the first stage towards a re-union of the churches. But one part of the Catholic Church cannot formulate 'unity' with Protestantism - without implicating the rest. Thus the papal support for the plan, far from validating it, merely gives it a false legitimacy to those promoting it. Those arranging the concelebrated Mass could, by that token, claim a spurious mandate.
Then we should consider the nature of the Mass itself. Each Mass is as it were the sole Mass ever celebrated. This is because each Mass is not a separate sacrifice, but a re-presentation of the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. So in a sense it is incorrect to refer to 'masses' in the plural - as there is no 'multiplicity of Christs'4.There is only one Christ who becomes present on the Church's one altar - signifying the 'Holy place'. So a substantial subversion of that sacrifice somewhere by the action envisaged, would have effects on the whole Church, abolishing the Mass.
As for the objection that valid orders 'would overrule the invalid', surely the intention would be paramount? And as the primary intention of the Catholic clergy would be to confer acceptance on Protestant 'orders', their intention would be defective. When actors in a film depict the marriage ceremony, no one is married. And as in the case we envisage, the intention would not be to validly celebrate Mass but to demonstrate acceptance for something which a Pope definitively declared as 'totally void and worthless' - it is impossible that that such an act of deception could truly consecrate bread and wine into Christ's Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
Of course some might still ask: how can the setting up of an idol on the altar, totally abolish the Mass?
This begs the question: what does the Mass subserve? The answer is that it establishes and perpetuates God's Covenant. At the Last Supper Christ consecrated bread and wine into His Body and Blood, ending with the words - 'this is the New Covenant in My Blood'. A covenant is a binding agreement between two parties, and the New Covenant is the fulfilment of the earlier covenant of Mt Sinai, in which the Jews undertook to keep the Ten Commandments, in return for God's sovereign protection.
The First Commandment enjoins 'Thou shalt not have false gods before me', and God warned that disobedience would be punished (Ex 20:5,6). Hence when King Manasses of Judah authorised the worship of an idol in the Temple of Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:7-15) the Jews were punished by being taken captive to Babylon for seventy years, while the Temple lay in ruins. This was the outcome of setting up an idol within God's sanctuary. This has a relevance for the subject of the last days, because Christ revealed that their starting-point as 'when you see abomination of desolation of which the prophet Daniel spoke, set up in the Holy place' (Matt 24:15). This evidently refers to an idol being set up in a sanctuary of the Church, and as this is followed by the great persecution of the last days - it is logical to conclude that that persecution is the outcome of this idolatry, this ultimate sacrilege, within the Church's sanctuary.
The end-time scenario is one in which 'false Christs' will appear working 'great signs and portents' though Satan's power, in an attempt to seduce people into apostasy, and an era of universal persecution. It therefore presupposes the end of that Covenant which formerly protected members of the Church, which in turn implies the total abolition of the means by which it was established.
I now challenge those who still reject my hypothesis to explain…
- why Daniel prophesies that 'victim and sacrifice will fail' ? Chapter 9:27 (Douai-Rheims version)
- why the Fathers Hippolytus and Irenaeus interpreted this as the abolition of the Mass?
- why in continuation of that teaching St Alphonsus stated that '..Antichrist will succeed in abolishing as a punishment for the sins of men, the Sacrifice of the Mass, precisely as Daniel had predicted'?
- the significance of the vision symbolising the crucial importance of the Mass, revealed at the time when Our Lady requested the consecration of Russia. Surely the only relevance of such a vision at that decisive moment was that it revealed the target of the coming attack?
- why should God have provided an additional safeguard of the Church from spiritual attack through the consecration of Russia, if its main such safeguard - the Sacrifice of the Mass - still availed?
- and lastly why Pope Pius XII stated 'I am worried about the Blessed Virgin's messages to Lucy... The day will come when the civilised world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt.. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God… In our churches, Christians will search in vain for the red lamp where God awaits them, like Mary Magdalene weeping before the empty tomb, they will ask “Where have they taken him?” . (Mgr Roche 'Pie XII devant l'histoire', pp 52-53).
1 – 'The Pope in Britain' (The official record) – Peter Jennings & Eamon. McCabe, Bodley Head, 1982
2 – 'Strangers No Longer' by Rev Derek Palmer, Hodder and Stoughton, 1992, page 23
3 – L'Osservatore Romano (Weekly Edition, 4th November 1992
4 – 'Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma' by Dr Ludwig Ott, Mercier Press, Cork, 1955