Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Talk about being more Catholic than the Pope!

This morning I was driving through Middleville and decided to stop by the local Catholic Church. I had been curious about it since we arrived since the sign said it offered traditional Latin Mass. The priest, Father Gregory, was very nice and open in talking about their congregation, The Most Holy Rosary. What absolutely floored me, though, was when he told me that his order (whose name I have forgotten-it's back at the church) does not recognize the current pope, nor has it recognized the last 5 popes!!

He was quick to assure me that they do still believe in the primacy of the pope, apparently the pope is only infallible if you believe he is. More on this after I do some reading of the literature he gave me.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have heard a bit about the traditionalist. I believe Mel Gibson belongs to one of these churches.

Rev. Jim Roemke said...

That is very interesting. I knew Mel Gibson was all for the Latin Mass, but I have never heard of Roman Catholics who actually deny the infallibility of the current pope. My question is, what makes you "Roman" Catholic if you deny Rome? I'll have to learn more about this.

Bushido Lutheran said...

Only in Middleville...


I find this pleasantly amusing, Pastor, and not at all shocking. Just think of them as preceeding toward the Lutheran beleif in a slow decade by decade plod.....like the last march of the Ents....only with rosarys.

Rev. Jim Roemke said...

I need to go back and talk to them. There are so many unanswered questions like: are you in communion with other Roman Catholics who do recognize the current pope's authority? How do they interact with other catholic clergy and authorities? Etc.

The priest's antiphon was "we hold ourselves aloof"

Um...ok?