Transcript:
Audience/Questioner:
Bishop said he would be glad to answer any questions.
Audience/Questioner::
Your Eminence, you mentioned in your talk that sometimes even in the clergy, you come across someone who espouses political correctness. How do you deal with that yourself, or other bishops and cardinals who are devout like you are?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
It is sad for me to witness such a phenomenon but it was always in the Church for all times and even to the point where clerics betray Christ out of love for the world and to please the world. It was since Judas, but the holy priests and bishops have a stronger weight of witness.
Audience/Questioner:
What is the climate like in the Vatican now?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
I mean, the Church is alive and is living in some periods of time in history, more in the periphery, and in some way, you are all here at a periphery. So, I came to the periphery. Pope Francis likes the periphery. Yes, I came to the periphery.
Audience/Questioner:
Thank you for defending the Apostolic Faith and thank you also for defending the Society of Saint Pius X. You see them as far as we can, as social media praise and praise, getting an FFL. Up, maybe implemented?
Bishop Athanasius Schnieder
Yes, the society of Saint Pius X. The Pope and the Holy See already have a strong wish to give the Society of Saint Pius X a canonical structure and canonical recognition. I was also asked by the Holy see to help in this issue in some way. It would be without doubt a benefit for all. When the Society of Saint Pius X will have a legal standing in the Church, this will be a benefit for them and for the entire Church because they will present a strong community that substantially lives the faith, morals, and liturgy of our ancestors of our Fathers of all ages. It would be a new missionary and evangelizing force in the Church against the weakening of faith and confusion. I hope and pray and ask also for your prayers that this could be realized in the near future.
Audience/Questioner:
Next year will be 100 years since Fatima on October 13 and we know as Mary has promised, as Queen of Heaven and Earth, that if we consecrate Russia to her Immaculate Heart, we will have a time of peace. Do you see this as a possibility that I hope or many kinds of miraculous ways that this could happen? They see something you know, something is going on and that could be something that maybe next year is going to happen.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes, I think it would be very good and it would bring a lot of crisis for the Church and for humanity. This is my personal opinion, when the Pope would consecrate Russia in the form explicitly which Our Lady demanded in Fatima. Explicitly naming Russia with all the unity of all the bishops, without doubt, it will reign of grace. I hope that it could be done but I do not know when it will be done. If next year, I do not know, it is really in the hands of God. But it is my wish that it should be done.
Audience/Questioner:
Could you share with us some signs of hope that you’ve seen in your travels around the world
on the grip of tradition, and in Christ the King maybe in Europe and specifically in Russia? Do you see some good signs happening in Russia?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
First, I will answer your first question. I am really traveling almost all over the world, and I am visiting as I have mentioned the peripheries like yours where the traditional faith and liturgy is kept and is growing and flourishing in these places. There are young families, children, young people, young clergy, and seminarians. The Church is alive and flourishing in these places. I am witnessing that even the traditional form of the Mass is really spreading all over the world, it may be slowly spreading but it is a process, even in places where people have never discovered this treasure. This treasure has always been in the Church. For me, it is a sign from the Holy Spirit of the spreading of the traditional form of the Mass which was restored for us by Pope Benedict XVI in his Motu Proprio, Summorum Pontificum. This is evidently bearing fruits and this is the work in which I am convinced, and no one can stop me.
The second question is about Russia. I can say since I am living close to Russia, that from the point of view of public life in Russia, at least religion is more present in the society. It is visible, like they are building new churches and new monasteries and there is support from the Russian government. There are chaplains in the armies which were impossible to think of in the Soviet Union. Now, there are orthodox priest chaplains who celebrate their Masses in the army or in prisons, and so on. This is a sign in their public life that there is still the presence of Christianity in a growing atheistic country. It is also a sign for me of the conversion of Russia which Our Lady of Fatima predicted but still a step-by-step process. Russian society still has its own moral problems, such as alcoholism, and abortion, but nevertheless, there are other good signs that we have to recognize.
Audience/Questioner:
Hi, Your Excellency, my question is, what are we, as lay people, supposed to do in the face of a hierarchy who seems to be hostile (inaudible words), how do we confront this?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
We first have to pray for them, pray for their conversion. It is not forbidden, rather it is a benefit. When these members of the hierarchy would be offended that I am praying for their conversion then it would constitute that he has no sin. Only a person without sin can say, I don’t need conversion. So we pray for their conversion and to hold on to our convictions of faith and say, I know whom to believe, I know because I have my Catechism— Baltimore Catechism. It has clear statements about faith, you and I know this: you have to be faithful to this and be an apostle in spreading the truth.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, what was the most influential for you to become a traditional priest? So we see so many priests and bishops that are not fortunate for the tradition. So what was the influential thing in your life to be attracted to tradition?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider:
I think the enormous grace in my life is that I was born in a Catholic family and have received the Catholic faith, to say metaphorically, to receive the mother’s milk. So, mothers, please give your children the milk of faith— the Catholic faith. I considered this the last root. Having been growing up partly in the underground Church during the persecution of the Soviet Union, these experiences marked my soul profoundly with the truth of the Catholic faith with utmost reverence. Thanks be to God, it was given in my soul as a child until becoming a young adolescent, I have always kept this continuously in my life since my childhood. I love the reverence and beauty of the liturgy, it was so normal for me. When Pope Benedict XVI issued the Motu Proprio, I was in immense joy to celebrate the Holy Mass in this fuller manner traditionally. I still celebrate the New Mass in my Diocese but in the spirit of the traditional Mass.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, do you see any friends in the Church where there is respect in the Blessed Sacrament in the manner of receiving Holy Communion?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes. The manner of receiving Holy Communion. It is still very sad that the great majority of all the Churches in the world still receive Holy Communion by hand and while standing. Exteriorly and from an objective point of view, it is a lack of reverence and it is a doorway for all sacrilegious acts. It is the deepest wound in the Mystical Body of Christ, this phenomenon of Communion in the hand and all its consequences. We have to heal starting from here. Therefore, I wrote in my two books about this topic and it has been a joy for me when people say to me that after reading my book, they’ve stopped receiving Communion in the hand. This is a consolation for me, not because I’ve written this book, but because I am really happy that Jesus, our Lord, is treated better and with reverence.
Audience/Questioner:
How do you handle people and politicians, one, for instance, that’s running now, that says they’re Catholic? They don’t approve of abortion, but they don’t think it’s right to force other people to be against it.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Well, we cannot force someone to do a good thing. However, we cannot give the witness that abortion is not a crime, it is murder. We have to always say this, when someone is supporting the murder of innocent lives and saying he/she is a Catholic, he/she is not a Catholic.
Audience/Questioner:
Why are these people not excommunicated?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
That is a good question. These people have to be excommunicated and not only this, anyone who is actively supporting the killing of innocent lives should be excommunicated.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, I just want to follow up on a question before about Russia and the situation in Russia and Eastern Europe versus Western Europe, particularly Mr. Putin who has visited Mount Athos Monastery a number of times. Has he been openly supportive of the Christian faith, the Orthodox, and presumably the Catholic as well? What do you see, not just in Russia but also in the old Soviet Bloc, which seems to be moving towards more traditional values versus the west, which seems to be crumbling morally? How do you see this dynamic and do you see it as something that is genuine or politically motivated?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes. In Eastern Europe or in Russia and Kazakhstan, where I am living in the East, the public life and the people still have an unsinkable and deep conscience towards the natural law, specifically the issues of gender ideology. It is impossible and unthinkable, in my country and even in Russia, to recognize same-sex unions or in some recognize homosexual acts. This understanding is natural and is written in the hearts of these people. This is a demonstration of the natural law that is inscribed in our hearts which the western influences are trying to brainwash people with their ideologies. What they are doing is in some way like a form of dictatorship and we have to protest against this. I think this is not a political issue, this is a topic of morality in Russia for example. Every country is seeking some political advantage but, for me, this is a good phenomenon and we have to acknowledge this.
Audience/Questioner:
Under this pontificate, there seems to be a resurgence in the seamless garment or the consistent ethic of life or what it’s called. And recently, I’ve even seen some articles suggesting that those who support the consistent ethic of life are not backing away from prioritizing abortion, but I don’t see how it is not backing away from prioritizing abortion. Could you address that issue? Please?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
I do not understand your question. Excuse me, can you formulate it in a simpler way?
Audience/Audience/Questioner:er
Under the “seamless garment”, which was sort of the ideology that Cardinal Bernarding supported 23 years ago, he used to say that all life issues are equal. So all of these things, whether it’s housing or food, or abortion, all of them sort of progressed equally. And that sort of rose again, under this pontificate and under this consistent ethic of life. And yesterday or the day before there was an article saying that those who support this are not backing away from the priority of abortion. But it seems to me that unless you prioritize something, you are backing away, you can’t get all these equal weight, you got to focus on the most important.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes, of course. This is a kind of relativism. We cannot put on the same level the issue of immorality, such as the killing of an innocent person, with ecology or climate change or perhaps some ways of improving medical care and household. They are not on the same level and we have to stress this.
Audience/Audience/Questioner:er
Your Excellency. I don’t know how you felt about the Pope, celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On the day and anniversary of our Lady’s final apparition? Do you think that this would be an impetus for possible schism in the Church later on?
Bishop Athanasius Schnider
I am very sad that this happened, and this should not have happened because this is in some way an approval of the heresies of Luther. Those were evident heresies. We cannot implicitly approve this while at the same time celebrating the division of the Church which happened 500 years ago. We cannot celebrate this movement of heresies that caused the division of the Church by Luther. I don’t think that it will cause a schism because in some way we are already living in the Church with so many differences and contrasts between priests, bishops, cardinals, and even local churches that may behave in the manner of schism but not a declared schism, de facto. In Europe, for example, one Diocese permits divorcees to receive communion, in another Diocese they forbid it, but we are one Catholic Church.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, could you give us your thoughts on why there seems to be silence on the whole concept of evil and hell, specifically hell? Now it seems to be there is a new theological thinking within probably the Western Church where there is a probable hope that everyone gets to heaven.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes, this phenomenon has already been around for how many decades but these days it has been greatly stressed. It is not true that all can go to heaven, it is an illusion and it contradicts the Words of our Lord. Our Lord has said that the way to perdition and condemnation is broad but the way to salvation is narrow and only a few can enter. We have to believe in the Words of our Lord otherwise it is not true. We would be lying to the people if we acclaim that all will be going to heaven. It is a spiritual crime because I am putting this person in danger to be lost for all eternity. I would reprimand that this is dangerous, for you can be lost for all eternity.
Audience/Audience/Questioner:
Abortion and so many other things like food, gas, counseling children at jobs, it’s getting harder and harder to find places that don’t support these organizations, how would you suggest we find or how do we live in today a counselor children not to also given to these organizations through purchasing? (Inaudible question but I believe the main thought is how do we live in a society where everything, even in companies and society, is promoting immorality.)
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Well, we are living in a pagan society. St. Paul wrote in the first centuries to the Christians, you shall be like lights amidst a corrupted and perverted society. Lights that shine like stars, this is our faith and the weakness of our moral life. Of course, when I am in a company that promotes immorality, I cannot participate in this. When there is some form of activity that is not directly connected with morality, participation is possible but depending on the extent. We cannot live completely isolated, we are in a pagan society.
Audience/Questioner:
(Inaudible question but I think it pertains to the relationship between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church.)
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Well, I have a lot of contact with the Orthodox faithful because I am living among great faithful Orthodox Christians. Substantially, we have the same faith but are divided upon the primacy of the Pope and this is discussed greatly with some Orthodox priests and bishops. During our discussions, we can more or less agree with matters of faith like Immaculate Conception and Purgatory, but when it comes to matters of the Primacy of the Pope there are reservations and contradictions. It would be good when there could be unity but I think it is not possible at this time partly because of the original sin which is still present in all. To the extent of my understanding, we may come closer through dialogue, and through this dialogue, some of the good ones can come and join the fullness of the Catholic faith. We have to help them and this is the true ecumenism. When we say, you can stay where you are in matters of your faith, this is a betrayal of the truth, this is a false ecumenism. We have to help them, not by force but through compassion towards unity, which is beneficial for the Orthodox Church. However, there is too much politics involved in the Orthodox Church and it is strong in this case. Maybe when the Russian government or the Patriarch will have a strong influence to reconcile with the Pope, it could possibly help but it is only an idea.
Audience/Questioner:
Yes, your Excellency. Um, I was thinking about your talk that you did today on the Social Kingship of our Lord, and I thought about what Jesus said when he was trapped by the Pharisees to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God, what is God? And then the third thought of how do we do this joyfully in our present situation in our present little parish in our families? How do we live? What program of life can we have so that we’re not just in our own little cocoon here, which I love this place, this cocoon, you know, but because we’re butterflies too, right? How can we do that, so that when we go out into the world like Colleen was saying, we come across so many people that don’t know Christ you know? What do we do? Do we just concern ourselves with our own family and say, render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God, what is to God and just our own salvation? I know I’m all over the place. But that’s why I put my hands up again.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
First, I think we have to give a simple and silent witness of the conviction of our Christian faith in the midst of this pagan society. People will slowly notice that you are a Christian because you do not adhere to the pagan ways of life, and they will also notice that you have a good grasp of your conscience. They will start asking you questions about the truth and you can answer clearly and objectively with love. This form of help is a kind of love of neighbor, in ways that you can teach them the truth, probably invite them to come to church, and recommend them to come to catechesis. Be not afraid, like the apostles.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, first of all, thank you for the conviction of your statements, it’s really refreshing. So many times, I’ve heard those people in a gray manner of speaking. And it worries me that I appear to see a teaching, a doctrine change in future years might be very hard. Mine is fear that I have to change forever. (Inaudible questions because of the quality of the sound system upon recording)
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Of course, the Church will always be the same because it is the work of God, not of man. If the Church would be a human foundation it would have been finished a long time ago. Since the Church is a divine work, and the captain of the boat is Jesus, it will not perish. The liturgy and the teachings of the Church will always remain the same, it cannot be changed. In some periods of time, they can make confusion on doctrine, morals, and liturgy. We are witnessing this now but this will relatively be a short period of time. We are also witnessing the new periphery renewing the Church; defending and handing over to the younger generation what we have received from our fathers and forefathers, this is a beautiful task but the most important thing is that we remain Catholics. I will share a nice story. A Bishop of Kazakhstan shared this with me when he was living in the underground Church during communism. After the fall of communism, he came to Rome to participate in a synod. Upon arrival, there was a Cardinal who greeted this Bishop from the East and this Cardinal wanted to present himself to the Bishop and said, I am a Cardinal so and so, this is my title, and he started to enumerate his titles to this poor Bishop and upon finishing enumerating his titles, the Bishop from Kazakhstan asked him, Your Eminence, are you Catholic? Then the Cardinal responded, I am trying to be. So let us be Catholic, this is very important.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency as a true Roman Catholic Bishop from another country, how important do you see as an outsider looking in? How important do you see our upcoming election being for the stability of our nation?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Well, I am not an American and I am not acquainted with the political situation. To my understanding, what I can observe from a distance, it seems all this issue is very similar to a dictatorship.
Audience/Questioner:
I know I put you on the spot but I attended.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
It seems to me that the methods of the election campaign is like a dictatorship, so you cannot really choose because ultimately it is just the same. So, we really live in a pagan society.
Audience/Questioner:
As for clarification and more. We pray for this clarification to you. So boldly ask for the suspect that that will eventually be done and clarification of (Inaudible question but mainly asks for the clarification of Amoris laetitia).
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
The clarification of Amoris Laetitia, which I asked for in April, unfortunately, came out worse. Even the Diocese of the Pope in Rome, the Cardinal Vicar-General, presented pastoral orientations which ultimately allowed divorced people to go to Communion. What can we do in this situation? We have to publicly state and confess our faith in the unchanging truth of the sanctity of marriage. We know them from the teachings of the Magisterium of the Church. There is a recent good initiative that I will recommend from the internet which is named, The Declaration of Fidelity to the Unchanging Truths of Marriage. You can find this website domain: filialappeal.org. You can sign the declaration in support of this. This started last month and it has accumulated more than 6,200 signatures today. The first group that co-published this declaration, there were 80 people. I was one of them along with three Cardinals, three bishops, and several priests from all over the world. In some way I was also collaborating in the drafting of this document this is why I am recommending this to you. This is a public statement that we maintain firmly the truth and it consists of 27 statements and every statement is quoted and referenced from the Magisterium of the Church. Therefore, these statements are not our opinions. Of course, we pray that the Pope may at least reconsider this issue and that the Bishops view this as a grievous situation in the Dioceses of Rome and to other Dioceses who are normalizing giving Holy Communion to adulterers. This is very grievous. I think in light of this situation, in my opinion, the Bishops should make a public request to the Pope to stop this.
Audience/Questioner:
So can you talk about standard grounding, the traditional Catholic tradition, and pretty much pays for everyone? But this thing basic life, do you think so many priests and bishops don’t uphold Catholic tradition? Why did they bow in that respect? And why are so many of them just wishy-washy? (Main thought of the question is why do you think so many priest and bishops do not uphold Catholic tradition?)
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
This is a good question but I do think this question should be directed to them, not to me. But I think the reason is the weak faith of these priests or bishops. The weak relationship with Christ reflects your own convictions which leads to conceding and yielding and maybe out of personal advantages.
Audience/Questioner:
Did you ever have the opportunity to have personal contact with Benedict XVI?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
No, after his renunciation. Before, yes I have made visits.
Audience/Questioner:
Thank you for everything. I was wondering. Sometimes it seems to me that there is laxity in discipline. How do you even put the genie back in the bottle? I mean if communion for divorced and remarried people is allowed, how do you put a stop to it? Is there any way aside from a miracle this could happen?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Now, we have to definitely make this declaration of fidelity and spread this by giving it to the priests. We also have to pray fervently that the Pope will ultimately stop this and he must stop this. The other Bishops can help influence the Pope because the Bishops are the colleagues of the Pope and they are bound in this collegiality. The Bishops are members of the Magisterium of the Church. The Bishops, in this case, have a very serious extraordinary duty to admonish publicly and reverently the Pope to stop this and pray that God will intervene.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Excellency, thank you. I’m here with my oldest daughter and she saw that you’re wearing pink and purple. She was wondering what the colors mean, if you could explain the color
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Well, I do not know why the Bishops are wearing purple. The Cardinals have another color, it represents the blood they shed in witness of their faith in the truth, the Church, and for the Pope. Therefore, they have this red cassock but I do not know why I am dressing this way but it is very secondary.
Audience/Questioner:
Can you share your thoughts on the future of European society if the Muslim population continues to grow and expand?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Yes, this is very serious. We are witnessing an invasion. They are no longer refugees but a mass invasion and Islamization of Europe which have been happening for at minimum 50 to 60 years. This is a global political agenda by the powerful people in the world to destroy Europe; culturally and religiously, to ultimately destroy Christianity in Europe through the massive Islamic population. I recently read an article from a sociologist who made calculations that in 30 to 40 years, Europe will be an Islamic state because the European people have almost no children. Europeans will have usually one or two children, the Muslims have 5 to 10 children. Maybe it is a permission of God so that the Church, surrounded by an Islamic society that is not tolerant and never will be tolerant, Christianity will then be purified and the purification of the Church is good.
Audience/Questioner:
Your Eminence, thank you so much for coming. Please come back again soon and send more like you.
Audience/Questioner:
Clearly, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you. Could we, Bishop, may we have your blessing?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
I would like to extend this blessing to all the members of your families and those whom you have gone to pray for them also.
Dominus vobiscum.
Audience/Questioner:
Et cum spiritu tuo
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
Audience/Questioner:
Ex hoc nunc et usque in saeculum
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini
Audience/Questioner:
Qui fecit caelum et terram.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Et benedictio Dei Omnipotentis, Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, descendat super vos et maneat semper.
Audience/Questioner:
Amen.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Thank you for your presence.
