Ecumenism (1)

2017 saw one piece of real ecumenism which went largely unremarked.

A small ... indeed, tiny ... group of clergy and laity put together a Filial Correction of PF, which was humbly submitted to him in early August with 40ish signatures. As with the Dubia, not even a dismissive acknowledge was received from PF or his office. It was therefore decided to make the document public. By the time this happened, some 20 or so more people who had heard about it had offered their signatures.

One of these was His Excellency Bishop Fellay. Two points:
(1) The Correctio drew upon the Magisterium of the Church of All Time including that of Vatican II and of 'the post-Conciliar popes' as well as that of the preceding millennia. Bishop Fellay did not turn up his nose at the document because of this factor.
(2) The creators of the Correctio accepted his offer. They did this in full knowledge that the malevolent Hypersuperueberpapalists surrounding PF would probably use this fact in order mendaciously to claim that they were 'cryptolefebvreists'. This is the sort of mud which that sort of person enjoys flinging around. (They did it with the Friars of the Immaculate.)

'Ecumenism', like most healthy things in the life of the Church Militant, tends not to happen in the way that is expected or anticipated. There were all those professional ecumenists, cosying up together in the Venices and the Maltas to craft deliberately ambiguous statements of verbal concord. But the God of Surprises ... YES!! ... works differently.

So here we had people brought together by nothing else than their love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of His Bride, joining together in joyful affirmation of the Deposit of Faith, the Tradition handed down through the Apostles.