Whilst not providing the Usus Antiquior (The Traditional Latin Mass) for his faithful, (for clearly there is a significant demand) the most illustrious and Reverend Lord, His Grace, Dr. (Datuk) John Wong D.D. Archbishop of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, took time out to warn his Archdiocese in a letter to steer clear of the Society of St Pius the X,(SSPX) because they" dissent from the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and they have serious questions about the Order of Mass promulgated by Pope St Paul VI."
The astonishing hypocrisy of the Malaysian episcopate on the matter of the Usus Antiquior is world famous. They continue to deny those who want the Usus Antiquior, permission or access to Churches, whilst expecting to receive religious liberty from the Malaysian (Muslim) Government. I can only say that two expressions come to mind; "Charity begins at home" and "You reap what you sow".
The Archbishop (AB) does not warn of any heresy or failure to believe in the articles of the creed or the Catechism of the Catholic Church rather he mentions the Second Vatican Council, which made no definition or changes to the deposit of the faith and is already slipping into oblivion because of it's increasing failure to be relevant to the current age. It seems as Pope Benedict had warned, that some people treat Vatican II as a kind of Super Council, where nothing much that went before it seems to have any relevance - Let us hope that the pre-conciliar Jesus is the same as the post-conciliar one. As for the liturgy, many devout and erudite scholars have written on this subject without having their loyalty called into question - Ones legitimate right to prefer the traditional liturgy should not be a cause for others to infer or speculate about their attitude to the newer rite - quite simply it is a preference whose exercise has no prerequisites.
The carte blanche resistence to the Usus Antiquior and failure to implement Summorum Pontificum - is itself a dissent from the Churches discipline and its teaching of recent years on the subject. Perhaps it is against this prejudice that using his universal jurisdiction has been used by the Holy Father (to overide such as A.B. Wong) to grant universal faculties to the SSPX. Now I should add, that I am not an advocate for the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), in fact I have little or nothing to do with them, nonetheless, given the complete failure of the ordinary to make proper pastoral provisions for the faithful of his Archdiocese, he, frankly has no one to blame but himself if the SSPX finds fertile soul in his diocese.
Indeed now that the SSPX is present he is surely obliged to adopt an ecumenical approach like that of the of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, who leading by example has giving the SSPX faculty to perform the sacraments even within the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu without reference to the local Ordinary. Has not His Holiness set the tone and manner in which the Conciliar Church ought to behave toward the SSPX, why does the Malaysian episcopate continue to rebel against the spirit of Pope Francis? Many have long suspected that owing to the colonial history of the country, that the episcopate have a real chip on their shoulder, and want to show everyone who is charge now. - This behaviour is as infantile as it is un-christian, their tyranny is worse than their perceived colonial and ecclesiastical predecessors.
When the Usus Antiquior can be freely celebrated in Malaysia without let or hindrance and the episcopate and clergy of that country do not feel threatened by their own traditions then they will have arrived at a real understanding of religious liberty and thrown off their insecurities about the past and be able to move forward unencumbered by such nonsense and time wasting.
Of course rather than stem the tide, the AB's letter will merely add strength to their bow, and they will continue to grow ever stronger, compounded by his failure to act justly.
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