Speaker 1: Thank you for coming. Welcome, Your Excellency.
Speaker 2: Well, welcome Your Excellency. Glad to have you. Hello. Gabby, all right, Your Excellency.
Speaker 3: We’re just gonna wait a few more minutes to see if anyone else joins, but then we’ll get started. So Your Excellency, would you please listen? Ave Maria,
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Speaker 3: Says his parents’ story is anything. It is so inspiring. It is so beautiful. I’m pretty sure I cried while reading about it in his most recent book. So he was born in the Ural Mountains in the gulag, and then after in three books, two about the Eucharist Corpus Christi and Dominus est. They’re both very excellent. I suggest you recommend them. And with me right now, I have his newest book, Christopher Vin sheet. It is he answering many, many questions about the faith he is. He tells a story in it. He answers questions about everything from the truth of the Catholic faith to the current situation in the Catholic faith. Any questions you may have. It’s an excellent resource. I recommend that everyone buy in the form of an interview with a journalist from the great life. Site news named Diane Montana. So and everyone buys it, and with that call to we get started. Yes.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, William. So today, His Excellency will begin with a lecture on the social kingship of Christ, and afterwards, there’ll be a chance for viewers to ask questions on the topic, and nearing the end of our session, you may also ask His Excellency any general questions which are not directed in late relates to the lecture, myself and Isaac will be moderating the YouTube live stream so anyone that has not been able to access the Skype call today will be able to type their questions in the YouTube chat. And we ask that everyone remain honorable and mute their mic unless it is their turn to speak. And we will end today’s session in prayer and chant. So without further ado, I welcome His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Schneider. Thank you very much.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Welcome all you, dear young people, it is a joy for me to greet you and to speak to you about the Catholic truth today, as you asked me, I would speak to you about the theme of the social and universal.
You sides in him, it is through him and in him that the Father has reconciled all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both that which is on earth and that which is in heaven, in Jesus to Christ, Our Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man, both individually and socially. This is the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of individuals and of societies toward the true religion and the one church of Christ. By constantly evangelizing man, the church works toward enabling them to infuse the Christian spirit, the Christian religion into the mentality and the morals, laws, and structures of the communities in which they live. So says the catechism, and then continues the social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in each man the love of the true and the good, it requires them to make known the worship of the one true religion, which subsists in the Catholic Church. Greek and Apostolic Church. Christians are called to be the light of the world.
Thus, the church proclaims the kingship of Christ over all creation, and in particular, over human societies. So the Catechism of the Catholic Church, devoted to France in the 19th century, preached about the social kingship of Christ. It was Cardinal Louis P Bishop of Poitiers, and he said these beautiful words about Christ, the King. I quote, a most strict obligation is incumbent upon me to employ the remainder of my life, the final fervor of my soul, to inculcate upon our contemporaries this sentence, namely, let no purpose upon another, outside of the one that has been passed by the hand of God, and which is Jesus, Christ, and for the peoples, as for individuals, for modern societies, as for The ancient societies, for the republics as for the monarchies, there has been no name under heaven given to man in which they can be saved, if it is not the name of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the entire social entity; apart from Him, all is shaken, all is divided, all is lost. Place, therefore, in the heart of our contemporaries, in the heart of our public man, this profound conviction that they cannot do anything for the security of the country and of her weapons, so long as they do not hold Christ as the basic corners full which has been laid by the divine hand, Jesus, Christ is the cornerstone of our country, the recapitulation of our country, the summary of our history. Jesus Christ is our entire future. To those who obstinately refused recognition to the social authority of Christianity. Look at the response given already by Saint Gregory, the great, the pope, at the beginning of the seventh century. He is commenting on the chapter of the Gospels where the Adoration of the Magi is related, explaining the mystery of the gifts offered to Jesus by the representatives of the Gentiles. The Holy Pope expresses himself in this term, recognizing the triple quality of God, of man, and of King. They offer gold to the king, instant to God, and mercy to the man.
Well, there are some heretics who believe that Jesus is God, and who believe equally that Jesus is man, but who absolutely refuse to believe that his reign, his kingship, extends everywhere you say that you have a peaceful conscience, accepting as you do, the program of liberal Catholicism. Since you intend to remain Orthodox, counting on it that you believe firmly in the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, this is enough for an unassailable Christianity. Stop deceiving yourself. From the time of st Gregory the Great, there were certain heretics who believed points with you, and their heresy consisted in not wanting to recognize that all that God made man, Christ, also has a kingship that extends everywhere and to all. No, you are not irreproachable in your face, and popes and Gregory inflict on you the note of heresy. If you are among those who make it their duty to offer incense to Jesus, but they do not wish at all to add the gold to him as the king and his kingship. So a quotation of Cardinal P from the 19th century, the bishop and Cardinal in France, and he continued to explain the concept of Christ, saying, The dethronement of God on earth is a crime to which we must never become resigned. Note the last words addressed by our Lord to His apostles before He ascended into heaven, All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth, going, therefore, teach all nations. Notice that our Lord Jesus Christ does not say all men, all individuals, all families, but he said, all nations.
He does not merely say, baptized children, teach the Catechism, bless marriages, administer the sacrament, give religious burial to the dead. Of course, a mission he confers on the apostles comprises all that, but it comprises more than that, for it has a public and a social character. Jesus Christ is King of peoples and of nations, explaining the Lord’s Prayer. Cardinal P illustrates the doctrine of the social kingship of Christ with these words, Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom. Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He insisted that all these demand the public, social reign of God through the acknowledgement of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father has sent. The name of God is not hallowed as it should be if it is not held publicly and socially, our Lord’s Kingdom is meant to come, not only in individual souls and in heaven, but on earth through the submission of states and nations to Christ’s rule, the will of God is not done on earth as it is in heaven, if organized societies here below do not acknowledge their duties to God through our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Catholic, he goes on to say, is not a being who shuts himself up in an oratory from which the tumult of the world is carefully excluded, and who occupied exclusively with saving his own soul takes no interest in the way the world is growing.
When our Lord taught His apostles, the Our Father, he made it clear that none of his followers could accomplish the first act of religion, which is prayer, without putting himself in relation with all that can advance or retard favor or hinder the reign of God on earth, but he must do this in proportion to his intellectual attainments and to the extent of the horizon open before him as long as this road lasts. Let us never consent to limit the reign of God to Heaven only, or even to heaven and only to the interior of souls. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The dethronement of God on earth is a crime to which we must never become resigned. Let us never cease to protest against it. Here we have the kernel of the question. Let us not forget, nor allow people to forget, what the great apostle teaches: that Jesus Christ, after ascending into heaven, went there in order to fill all things. It is not a question of his presence as God, because his presence always was, but it concerns his presence as God and man. At the same time.
In fact, Jesus Christ is from now on present to all things on Earth, as well as in heaven. He fills the world with his name, with his law, with his light, with His grace; nothing is placed outside. Nothing is placed outside of his fear of attraction or of repulsion. Nothing and no person can remain totally indifferent to Christ or estranged from him. One is for him or against him; he is placed as the cornerstone, a construction stone for these, a stumbling stone for those, a touchstone for all. The history of humanity, the history of the nations, the history of peace and the end of war, above all, the history of the church, the only the history of Jesus filling all things. So this carried out about Christ, the King, Pope Leo the serpent states in his encyclical Libertas, issued in the year 1888, following therefore, civil society must acknowledge God as its founder and parent, and must obey and reverence his power and authority. Justice therefore forbids, and reason itself forbids the state to be godless or to adopt a line of action which would end in godlessness, namely, to treat the various religions as they call them alive and to bestow upon them promiscuously equal rights and privileges.
Since then, the profession of one religion is necessary to the interstate that religion must be professed which alone is true and which can be recognized without difficulty, especially in Catholic states, because the marks of truth are as it were, engravers engraved upon it this religion, Therefore the rulers of the state must preserve and protect, if they would provide as they should do with prudence and usefulness for the good of the community. For a public authority exists for the welfare of those whom it governs, and although its proximate end is to lead man to the prosperity found in this life. Yet in so doing, it ought not to diminish but rather to increase man’s capability of attaining to the supreme good in which his everlasting happiness consists, which never can be attained if religion be disregarded. So for Leo the 30s, in his first meeting, about the social and universal kingship of Christ. I quote Pope Pius the 12. Can there be a greater or more urgent duty than to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the men of our time?
Can there be anything more glad than to unfold a deep ensign of the king before those who have followed and still follow a false standard and to win back to the victorious banner of the cross those who have abandoned it? What heart is not inflamed is not swept forward to help at the side of so many brothers and sisters who are misled by error, passion, temptation, and prejudice, have strayed away from faith in the true God, and have lost contact with the joyful and life-giving message. Of Christ, who, among the soldiers of Christ, even himself, incited and spurred on to a greater vigilance, to a more determined resistance by the sight of the ever increasing host of Christ’s enemies as he perceives the spokesman of these tendencies, deny, or in practice, neglect the vivifying truth and the values inherent in belief in God and in Christ as he perceives them, eventually break the tables of God’s commandments to substitute other tables and other standards stripped of the ethical content of the revelation, standards in which the spirit of the sermon on the mount and of the Cross has no place the same Pope, pier Pius 12 continues to teach us saying the Holy Gospel narrates that when Jesus was crucified, there was darkness over the whole earth, a terrifying symbol of what happened and what still happens spiritually, wherever incredulity, blind and proud of itself, has succeeded in excluding Christ from modern life, especially from public Life, and has undermined faith in God as well as faith in Christ.
The consequence is that the moral values of which in other times, public and private contact was gate, have fallen into disuse and the much wanted civilization of society, which has made ever more rapid progress withdrawing man, the family and the state from the beneficent and regenerating effects of the teaching of the church, as caused to reappear in regions in which, for many centuries, shown the splendors of Christian civilization in a manner ever clearer, ever more distinct, ever more distressing, the signs of a corrupt and corrupting paganism. There was darkness when they crucified Jesus; they did not perceive the inability of all human effort to replace the law of Christ by anything equal to it. They became vain in their thoughts. So Pope Pius the 12. Then in our days, individuals and entire societies, civil societies, reject and vilify Christ as a king. We are called to confess him and offer him expiation and reparation. Then in our days, the truth of Christ is denied and perverted into its opposite, and this even on behalf of some clerics inside the church, we are called to confess courageously the unchanging, divine and liberating truth of Christ, already in 1888 Pope Leo the 13th left us this lucid and valid teacher, it is quite unlawful to demand to defend or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, of speech, of writing or of worship, as if there were so many rights given by nature to man, for if nature had really granted them, it would be lawful to refuse obedience to God, and there would be no restraint on human liberty. So Leo the 13th.
We are living in a time where the 10 Commandments of God are denied in theory and in practice, and without blushing, perverted into their opposite. We are talking here, for example, about the first commandment. The first commandment says, You shall have no other gods beside me. Me, whom I am, God, the Most Holy Trinity. This is the only true God. Most Holy Trinity. When there is no worship of the Most Holy Trinity and completed the worship of Christ, the King of kings, there is no true worship of God, supernatural worship, and there is no salvation, because all other forms of worship do not correspond to the will of God and to the first commandment, but only the worship of the Most Holy Trinity, the adoration of Christ, the first commandment does not admit even the slightest ambiguity and vagueness. A Catholic can acknowledge only the worship, the cult of the Most Holy Trinity and of Christ, the incarnate God and King. Therefore, a Catholic cannot participate even indirectly in any other religious cult.
A Catholic can’t burn even a smallest grain of incense before the images of the new idols, as, for example, before the idol of a standard religion, or of a world one religion, or of a Pachamama statue, before the idol of public opinion, of the public correctness, and so on. Pope Pius 12 state stated that many noble minds recognize in the Catholic Church principles of belief and life that have stood the test of 2000 years. This strong cohesion of the church, of the doctrines of the teaching of the gospel in guiding and sanctifying man, and which is generous in its material towards all, but firm when even at a cost, of torment or martyrdom, it has to say, is not allowed. So piles to 12 and his words remain ever valid, up to the date and up to date for us, they are a pure mirror of the words of the apostles and of the Fathers of the Church, in the recognition of the Royal prerogatives of Christ and in The Return of individuals and of societies to the law of Christ, the only way of Ovation following the sublime teaching of by himself in the two fold precept of love of God and of the neighbor, millions of souls have reached, are reaching, and shall reach peace. History is wisely called by great Roman, the teacher of life.
And so the teacher of life has proved for over 2000 years. How true is the work of Scripture that he will not have peace who resists God, who will not have peace, who resists Christ? The King for Christ alone is the cornerstone on which man and society can find stability and salvation. On this cornerstone, the church is built and hence against where the adversary can never prevail, the gates of hell shall not prevail, nor can they ever weaken her rather internal and external struggles tend to increase the force and multiply the laurels of the glorious victories of the church, the Catholic Church, the City of God, whose King is truth, whose law is love and whose measure is eternity, preaching fearlessly the whole truth of Christ and toiling as the love of Christ demands the zeal of a mother standing. Ends as a Blessed Vision of peace above the storm of error and of passion, awaiting the moment when the all powerful hand of Christ the King, shall quiet The Tempest and vanish the spirits of this God which have provoked it may all Catholics in our days, beginning with the Pope, until the most humble and big member of the church strive vigorously in their words, deeds, prayers and sufferings for The inspiration of the social and universal kingship of Christ. Christopher, Christopher, Christopher, thank you for your attention.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Your Excellency. Now I think if it’s okay with you, we’re now going to move on to some questions about the talk that we just had. So we are also live-streaming on YouTube, Your Excellency. So we will be taking questions from the Skype channel or the Skype chat, and the YouTube channel. So if we give it a minute for people to ask some questions, and then I can pass them over to you. Thank you.
Speaker 2: If anyone wishes to just ask their question, they may from the Skype call, just don’t talk over each other. Please be respectful and remember this is a bishop. Please refer to him as Your Excellency.
Speaker 1: That is all we have a question here? First, Your Excellency, from Anthony. And Anthony asks, What is the importance of the luminous mysteries, and why do so many traditional Roman Catholics not like them?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, the Luminous Mysteries are beautiful because they explain some mysteries of the life of Jesus, especially, let us. Let us take the Eucharist. Institution of the Eucharist, the baptism in the miracle of the wedding of Cana. They are beautiful mysteries, of course, but I think that I can imagine why some Catholics do not accept the Luminous Mysteries, because, and here I can understand the problem, because, with the new mysteries, they became the symbolic, the symbol of 15 mysteries, or let us say, of the 150 Hail Mary were in some way destroyed, because now we have 200 with the four mysteries, 200 Hail Mary. And so in this way, it was, in some way, destroyed the biblical symbolism of 150 Hail Mary, because 150 Psalms, the book of Psalms of 150 Psalms. And therefore, the monks prayed in the breviary, the Psalms in the Middle Ages, but the people, the simple people, could not read the Bible, so they were praying a kind of substitution of the breviary for the people, for the simple people, the so-called breviary of the late people.
This was the 150 Hail Mary, the Salter there was called the salt, and unfortunately, with the new Luminous mystery, it was this symbolism was destroyed. But I think we can, we can reconcile these. I would say that that may be, hopefully in the future, a future Pope could again restore the symbolism of the 150 Hail Marys, but saying that, the sad the rosary consists of 150 hell Marys. But you can do these three parts, but you can change, for example, one of the parts, also, the Luminous Mysteries. Let us say you can take the Joyful Mysteries, the luminous and then the glorious, and so you can also have, because some people pray, been accustomed to play daily the entire Psalter. And so you can, or the next day you can, you can change others, but always remaining in the symbolism of 150 and. Therefore, I see there is we can reconcile the symbolism of 150 together, Misty, luminous, mysterious.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Your Excellency. We now have a question from Carla. Carla asks that, during the coronavirus pandemic, people who have some serious health issues. Would you say that the Vatican should institute confession over the phone or via email as a valid way to do the sacrament of reconciliation?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: No, this is impossible, because we have to observe the essence and the substance of the sacrament which God gave us. The sacraments are the normal channels of communicating the sanctifying graces, and we have to observe the channels and the method which God gave us, and this implies a physical presence in these sacraments, especially the Sacrament of Confession, because it is have to be, this is a little g, this is R, which requires the the minister, and to whom is given the sacrament. So and therefore, it is required, according to the entire tradition of the church, the physical presence, at least, in us, in a way that the priest and the penitent can be in the same place and be together. I mean, in the same geographical place, so you cannot give absolution, you are in the States, and give a priestly solution to a person who is living in Australia.
It is not more in this case, the sacrament which got instituted is a repeat, is the ordinary, but they are extraordinary means which God gives in his great and unending mercy for those souls who cannot confess, for priests and they can make an act of contrition, of loving, Perfect contrition, with the desire to confess the next possibility, and with this act of perfect contrition, with the desire together of receiving the sacrament, they are freed from sin. They are cleansed by God; they are justified. This is the teaching of the Church. It is similar to the Sacrament of Baptism of desire. You know, the Sacrament of Baptism can be received in three forms: the sacrament by water, by martyrdom, the baptism of blood, and the baptism of desire. And so, in some way, you can also receive the confession of desire, and therefore, it’s not needed to give up the solution. It’s not possible via phone or YouTube.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Your Excellency. The next question is asking, Do you believe that God has sent this current covid, 19 pandemic as a punishment for our sins.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, this is always in the entire Bible, entire history of Christianity, until our I mean, until 60 years ago, always when there was a calamity or a catastrophe or epidemic, it was spontaneous, people recognized these also as a punishment for the sins, because we are continuously sinning and the world is becoming ever worse, and so and that in all the traditional prayers of the church, in the missile, in the other there are prayers connecting, connected with a situation of epidemic, was always the church expressed, our expressed our repentance to God, and that we are justly punished because of our sins with these catastrophes, and this means the punishment of God means only a positive To purify us, to purify the people from the sins, even sometimes through suffering, and of course, sometimes suffers innocent people. But we are all one family, and Jesus Christ is the innocent who suffered, and through his innocent sufferings, he redeemed. With us, we are participating in Christ also with our sufferings, also in this epidemic or in another epidemic, or in a catastrophe.
And all these epidemics and catastrophes are really a consequence of the original sin of Adam and Eve and of our personal sins, because every sin accumulates consequences. And when our time is horrible, since society is accumulating, let us say the most horrible sin is abortion, it is incredible. It is genocide. And then the perversion of the matrimony through the gay, through the ideology, the gender ideology, and so on. And then the rejection of Christ and desecration of the Eucharist, specifically, these are very grievous sins which accumulated, and therefore God sends such signs as an epidemic that people can make reparation, expiation, and also that they can awaken and be more and again in more God and his almighty power, and be humble and ask his power. And with all these situations as we now epidemic, it’s showing that we are very weak. We can, in one minute, we can perish, and this shows the importance of people, of human beings, and the almighty power of God that we have to trust in Him and to invoke Him. And maybe, hopefully, this epidemic can also have a purifying effect on people and inside the church also.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Your Excellency. So we’re now going to move on to the next question. So Mike is attempting to convert two of his Jewish friends to the Roman Catholic faith, and he wonders, what is the most single, most powerful piece of evidence he can use to get them started on the path of discovering Catholicism?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, the faith, to believe in Christ, in the Catholic faith. This is first a grace of God. It is firstly a gift of God. It is not my human achievement. Of course, we can help people with arguments, with good literature, and with apologetics. This is important. Also. We have to say them, to show them, especially the prophecies of the for the Jewish people, the prophecies of the Old Testament are so evident, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, when they are read the gospel and then the prophets, especially, specifically, I would recommend the Jewish this Jewish plan to read the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, the 53 chapter of the suffering servant of God. There are described the sufferings of Christ are described as a lamp, an innocent lamp of God. And this is fulfilled, really, literally. Then he reads the Gospel of John, and John is demonstrating that Jesus died in the same day, and moment when the Pascal Easter land was was offered in the temple in Jerusalem the same time Jesus Islam was offered on the cross, all these prophecies are evident, and then to pray for him that God may illuminate him and give him grant him the grace of faith.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Your Excellency. So the next question is from Damian, and he asks, Should he be attending a diocesan seminary or a traditionalist society, as he does not like things such as communion in the hand and other more modern ways that the literature has done
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, I think that ultimately, when he does not like communion in hand, it would be more consequential if you go to a traditional. Seminary or community where communion is given only in the tongue, because in the diocese and seminary, he will then be forced, later, as a priest, to give communion in hand. This will come, and he has to know this, and then he has now already to pray and to make a decision an option, but the church gives these possibilities today, thanks to God; there are traditional seminaries that still do.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Your Excellency. The next question is from Alison, and Alison asks, What way do you suggest for the youth laity to act and work in order to bring back people to Christ and his Catholic Church, specifically when attempting to convert those from a Protestant faith to the Roman Catholic Church,
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: First, to convert other people, to attract them to Christ. I think the first important thing is the method, the personal witness. So the witness of your life as a young, as a youth, try with the grace of God, is our lady to live a good, mortal life as a Christian, to give an example with all simplicity and humility, with your style of life, with your prayer, and so on. And this will attract because other young people say, Oh, he is living in another way. And when you are living with Christ, my dear young people, then Christ is more in you, and then Christ will shine through you, and Christ will through your life, touch the others. This is the mystery of the conversions, first witness, personal witness. And also be courageous. Don’t be fearful. Be courageous and even to the cost that you are, then maybe, how do you say, in some way, persecuted or not accepted, be a witness? And then, of course, give them good literature, good Catholic books, and then pray for them. Invite them, maybe to a meeting of good you, young people, Catholic people, invite them to make a good catechism, or to a prayer together to a pilgrimage. So this could be a means to attract our Protestant young people to the perfect and full truth of the Catholic faith.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Your Excellency. Now the next question stalwart has asked, ask you directly, so stalwart, if you want to unmute yourself, and you can now ask His Excellency your question. Thanks, Carlton. Good morning, Your Excellency. Pleasure to speak to you, and I’ll just get straight to my question. My state of life is that of a young husband and father. Now, young Christian families of our time obviously have a central role to play in bringing about the eventual revitalization of Holy Mother Church, and also the eventual conformity of our societies to the will of God. What you’ve been talking about today, what is one word of guidance you would offer to young fathers seeking to do their part in achieving this end? What must we do as young fathers, particularly to raise saints in our children and to encourage vocations in our families?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, first, I would congratulate you on your good young Catholic father. This is a beautiful, beautiful mission that you have from God, and as a young
Speaker 1: Thank you. Your Excellency. If you would please pray for my wife. She’s expecting our second in a month’s time. So if you would please keep my wife and so you can take St Joseph all young, young family fathers, or future, future family fathers, maybe some of you will soon become fathers, take St Joseph as your example. St Joseph, the best family father, with his fidelity, with his goodness, and in the midst of trials, you can read the gospel. St Joseph had to stand up in the night to take the child Jesus, to flee to Egypt in the danger of murdering of the child of Jesus, and then in a strange land in pagan Egypt. And then at the same time, the night to flee again, back and so on, and then he was obedient to the call of God, and then the example of St Joseph. And then his work. He was dedicated to Jesus and to Mary, and he lived for them. And so you, as family fathers, take this. You are family fathers. You are living. The meaning of your life is to live for your children and for your wife, and then you will be happy. St Joseph, to give yourselves this love, and so first is your example, and especially prayer. Be a prayerful man, not so much with words, you will educate your children, but more with your example, so that the children, when they grow, and then we will be adults, they will say, My father, I saw him pray. This is beautiful. Give an example of a prayer for your children, and then pray for them and simply make our environment a natural ground, and there where we flourish, the vocations and you and your wife, you can say to the Lord, for example, when a son is born to You, oh my lord, if you want. You can call this our son to the priesthood if you want. So at least you can. You can express your disposition to God. So, I think it would be a possibility for leaving a good Catholic father.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Your Excellency. God bless you. If Trey wants to unmute himself and ask His Excellency a question, you may do so now.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you for speaking to us today, Bishop Snyder. So I was wondering, is it okay to attend an SSPX Mass? And then also, do you think that Archbishop Lefebvre was in the right when he ordained before bishops without papal approval?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, the situation of the Society of Christopher tense changed in the pontificate of Benedict the 16th and Pope Francis. Now you know Pope Francis gave all the priests of the society Christopher tense the ordinary faculties to hear confession. This is a privilege. And so in some way, this is a half-recognition of them. And then furthermore, he gave them also the possibility to assist canonically the marriages, the weddings. There are already some forms of recognition that the Holy See has given to this. I think that in places where there are no other possibilities to assist a worthy, full traditional mass, and there is the Society of presidents, I think you can assist the mass, because this is for your soul, and the sacraments are valid. And they pray for the Pope. They pray for the Pope, even though they recognize him.
And so they are Catholics when they recognize the Pope and have the peace faculties. So this, I mean, then the question of Archbishop Lefebvre. Now, I think that by time, by passing in the years, we can better judge a situation of 3040, years ago, as then, or maybe after 1020, years, we can see more clearly yet. But I think that the consecration of the four bishops, I think he did this in all his good intentions. And not in a schismatic way, this is certain that he was not doing it with a schismatic intention. What does schismatic mean? We have to be careful with this expression. Schismatic. Schismatic is one who rejects, in principle, the authority of a pope and who does not mention him in the prayer of the mass, and who does not desire to be with the problem, but all these aspects in February, they did. He had not demonstrated such behaviors. On the contrary, he asked, he wrote to the Pope that his deepest desire is always to be in union with the Pope. And he wrote to Pope John for the second before the consecration of the bishops, it is my deepest desire to do these consecrations. Is your approval. But because of historical circumstances, disapproval, the Pope did not give disapproval. And as Christopher Wendt could foresee, even when one bishop is granted for them, this situation would not in any way give to guarantee to continuation of this work of restoration of the tradition in a more perfect way, in a more surer way. This was his judgment, historical, and maybe we will see after maybe it was justified, but I repeat, his intention was not schismatic. And there were also in the history of the church, some saints who, because of circumstances of history, died as excommunicated and then later were canonized. So we hope that later we will see clearly the situation of 3040, years ago, it is an extraordinary crisis of the church in some way comparable with the crisis, the global crisis of the faith in the fourth century, in the alien crisis, right?
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. Your Excellency. So the next question that we have here is from Elizabeth, and Elizabeth asks, What do you do when you do not feel like praying, Then, can you repeat, sorry, Your Excellency? What do you do when you feel like not praying, so when you don’t have the motivation to pray?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Well, when you have no motivation to pray, you have to pray to, and this is a trial and a temptation of the devil, because we have to pray. The prayer is the most beautiful that we have. The prayer is taking breath the supernatural air. And when you do not have enough, you can compare this with the body; when you do not have enough, when your body does not have enough air to breathe, you will become sick. And when your soul is not praying and breathing supernatural air, then your soul becomes weaker, weaker. And this is the temptation of the devil, and you have to resist and say, Now I will pray. And then this, and then you will become, and then you will you will get a deep joy and peace. You have to try this, to test this,
Speaker 1: Right? Thanks very much, Your Excellency. So the question under that is from Madison, and she is asking, what should be the Catholic reaction, or the faithful reaction to someone who almost disregards you, and you know, shrugs his shoulders at you.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: When someone is disregarding you and offending you, you have to. You have to behave as a Christian, as Jesus Christ said, Pray for your enemies. Pray for them. Forgive them. Do them good. This is the direction of Christians. We cannot give back the same. This would be pain. Speaking not Christian. And this is, of course, very sorrowful, and it is painful to be disregarded. But take this in the Spirit of Christ and offer this to the Lord and pray for this person who is disregarding you or abandoning you. And then you will keep your will, gain peace in your soul, and you will be, then, a true Christian.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Your Excellency. So the next question is from Alexandra, and she asks, she is currently discerning the religious life, but she feels very lost. So, how do you know if you are truly called to a religious life or not?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Yes, first is to pray, of course, and to ask God that He gives signs, and when there is a clear interior conviction, then you have to go and offer your life to God. When you do not yet have the interior conviction that you have to consecrate your life to God, you have to continue to pray for discernment. This is, as I repeat, ask God that He may give you signs of whose will and when you feel your soul then then be generous and say, Oh my Lord, but I consecrate my life to you. This is the most beautiful thing that you can make, because this is the will of God. When you are called, he manifests to you in several ways and some signs, but you have to be patient and pray.
Speaker 1: I thank you very much, Your Excellency. So the next question is from someone who appears to have no name on the Skype call, but they’re asked. They ask, what led to the social kingship of Christ being stripped from France via the French Revolution, pardon once more. Sorry, Your Excellency. What led to the social kinship of Christ being stripped from France during the French Revolution?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: It was evident because the French Revolution was operated by Freemasonry. It is, and they confess. Then, after this, the public says that we did this, the Freemasonry. And the aim of the Freemasonry, I would say, the nature, the substance, the essence of Freemasonry is to to reject Christ, to remove Christ, Jesus, Christ, from all spheres of public life, the Christianity, and so they did, since the French Revolution, until our days, you see all the legislation in the in the European states, In the American states, they step by step, removed the influence of Christ in the Christianity from public life, and so therefore we have to, as we spoke today, step by step, even small, To restore the influence of Christ in social life again.
Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Excellency. So the next question is from Daniel, and his question is regarding the Norcus Ordo, and he asked, Do you believe that the Roman Catholic Church should reform the Norcus Ordo mass, or return to the pre-Vatican Tridentine mass as part of a solution to the unrest in the church. And what else do you think could
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: help? Yeah, I think that we cannot at once, because the novice order is so much spread all over the world, and even some generations, two generations of Catholics have already grown up with these four. And maybe 90% of all Catholics know this. And so it would be difficult psychologically to at once abolish the novice order and to put back for all the old right? I think that slowly, it should be a process, an organic process of several years, maybe decades, to implement, to improve the Novus Ordo and to add elements of the. Alt right in the Novus Ordo, slowly, slowly, and so over time the two forms will become so close and so similar. Maybe there will be some differences, but not substantial ones. Maybe they will be more than the vernacular language in the reformed Novus Ordo. This would be more. Maybe the distinction in the future and the old form will be more in Latin, but the reform of his order will also have to, should also have a part always in Latin, also for the unity of the entire church. This, I think, would be away, so only to say to you, I have only five minutes because I have to go to celebrate Holy Mass.
Speaker 1: Of course. Well, I believe we may have time for one more quick question. If that’s okay with you, Your Excellency, or would you like to finish in prayer? Well, one question. Okay, right? So we’ll ask a question. Final one from someone who hasn’t asked one before. So I’m just there’s some questions which are quite similar, so I’m going to find one right. May asks, How can we live a life as the saints did, and how would we be able to act within our lives to one day have possible canonization,
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: the life of saints. Of course, they are our examples, and it would be very good and fruitful that young people are reading the biographies of saints, or even of good, virtuous, heroic biographies of good Catholics, of young people. And so I think that it would be very helpful for young people to read. I would recommend, for example, the life of the saints of Butler. It is also a good means and other biographies, and then maybe you can take one saint, let us say Saint Thomas More, his characteristics, which are important for our time, for example, his courage, for example, and his that he was not politically correct, that he was alone against the entire society in those times. Thomas More, it is very encouraging his his example. So how can you take an example of the martyrs of the first centuries, or this Martin of the Mexican persecution of the church, this boy, a 14-year-old boy Jose Sanchez, who, at the age of 14, gave so a beautiful example of fidelity to Christ. So take some examples, which is, which are important for you, or for young couples who marry, and young families, read maybe a biography of married people. For example, the parents of st Teresa, of childhood Jesus, are canonized, or other saints who lived in marriage, and so on. This would be a possibility.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you coming to speak to us all today, and we very much appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. Now we wondered if you’ll be able to give us your blessing and finish this session in prayer, and then we’ll leave you to go celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of Mass.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Thank you very much, and I will now celebrate the Holy Mass and pray for all of you, for all your intentions. And I wish that you will always be faithful to Christ and to the Catholic faith until your death. This is the greater grace, and be joyful and proud soldiers of Christ. Let us pray in our many parties, affiliates, we need to start Gloria Patri et filio et Spiritu is Sancto sicuderat In principio, et Nunc, et Semper, et in secular secularum Amen Dominus vobiscum. Ma et in spirit to et benedictio de omnipotentis Patris et Fili et spiritus Santi ascended super boss et mane at Semper
Speaker 1: Amen. Thank you very much. Excellency, God bless. Goodbye, goodbye, God bless, thank you for joining you.