Without a true Pope, how can we be sure of dogma?

C. V., a Catholic has sure Faith in the dogmas because they were proclaimed from the Chair of Peter, whose teaching God will not allow to err. The fact that a Pope is not currently reigning has no bearing on the certainty of those dogmas. Also, the Church does not need restoration.  It still exists, but has simply been reduced to a remnant. 

Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (# 10), Aug. 15, 1832:“Therefore, it is obviously absurd and injurious to propose a certain ‘restoration and regeneration’ for her (the Church) as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune.”

What is a good book for potential converts from Protestantism to read?

Davy, there are many good books, but the one I would recommend off the top of my head for a potential convert from Protestantism is The Catholic Controversy by St. Francis De Sales (available from TAN Books). 21 Reasons to Reject Sola Scriptura (also available from TAN) is also very good.

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Are Novus Ordo Confessions valid?

A Confession to a validly ordained Novus Ordo priest (i.e., a priest ordained in the Old Rite) would be valid if the Novus Ordo priest says "I absolve you from you sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost."  But the person you mentioned persists in going to the invalid Novus Ordo "Mass," and therefore that person is sinning gravely.  Thus, he does not approach Confession with the proper resolution to avoid this grave sin and therefore his Confession is sacrilegious.

Aren’t you misusing the term Apostate?

No, we are not misusing the term apostate. It is perfectly accurate to label Antipope John Paul II and his Bishops apostates. Pope Pius IX labels the “Old Catholics,” who merely denied Papal Infallibility (one dogma), as apostate priests in Graves ac diuturnae.

Pope Pius IX, Graves ac diuturnae (# 2), On the “Old Catholics”: “Having violently occupied parishes and churches with apostate priests, they have not neglected any deception or cunning to lead the children of the Catholic Church into wretched schism… Because it has always been the especially characteristic of heretics and schismatics to use lies and deception, these sons of darkness… [the ‘Old Catholics’] repeatedly state openly that they do not in the least reject the Catholic Church and its visible head but rather that they are zealous for the purity of Catholic doctrine… But in fact they refuse to acknowledge all the divine prerogatives of the vicar of Christ on earth and do not submit to His supreme Magisterium.”

“Luther would have the world believe Him (God) to be the direct author of sin and damnation… Calvin followed; he took up the blasphemous doctrines of the German apostate…” (Vol. 10, Feast of the Sacred Heart, p.428.)

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896: “… can it be lawful for anyone to reject any one of those truths without by that very fact falling into heresy? – without separating himself from the Church? – without repudiating in one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching? For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others. Faith, as the Church teaches, is that supernatural virtue by which… we believe what He has revealed to be true, not on account of the intrinsic truth perceived by the natural light of human reason [author: that is, not because it seems correct to us], but because of the authority of God Himself, the Revealer, who can neither deceive nor be deceived… But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honor God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith.”

Can a Catholic pray for the deceased Fr. Paul Wickens?

We are sorry to hear about the death of Fr. Wickens, but the sad fact is that Catholics cannot pray for him, because there is no evidence that he died a faithful Catholic, and there is much evidence to indicate that he died adhering to and accepting various heresies. Without question he will be praised as a hero by many of the false traditionalists.  Any time any priest dies who celebrated the Latin Mass they honor him as if he were a Saint, no matter what he believed.  All that matters to them is that he said the Latin Mass – and he’s going straight to heaven.  Whereas Martin Luther cried “Faith Alone,” the false traditionalist heretics hold to Salvation by the Latin “Mass Alone.”  They could care less what the priest actually believed. Up until just before his death Fr. Wickens displayed a picture of John Paul II at his chapel.  This was well after Fr. Wickens was aware and made aware of John Paul II’s heresies and many acts of apostasy, and the corresponding arguments showing that he is not Pope. Fr. Wickens also willed his church to the heretical SSPX, years after he knew that the SSPX believed that souls can be saved in false religions!   In fact, when two issues of our magazine were published detailing the SSPX’s teaching that Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, etc. can be saved without the Catholic Faith, as well as the apostasy of the Vatican II sect, Fr. Wickens wrote to us and told us to attack the real enemies: the American Bishops.  In other words, Fr. Wickens apparently didn’t see the SSPX’s belief that souls can be saved in non-Catholic religions as a heresy that must be denounced.  So it is a fact that he accepted as true Catholics those who believe that souls can be saved in false religions and without the Catholic Faith.  Thus, Fr. Wickens demonstrated obstinate heresy on the salvation dogma. Also, in the SSPX’s book published in 2003 called Priest where is thy Mass?, Mass where is thy Priest? (16 Priests tell why they celebrate the Latin Mass), Fr. Wickens says on page 145: “A priest friend of mine who is still with the Novus Ordo and doing the best he can…”  This indicates that Fr. Wickens held that a priest could do the best he can while celebrating the Novus Ordo.  This unfortunately reflected his compromising and heretical attitude toward the Vatican II sect.  And Fr. Wickens was not new to traditionalism; he had been involved with it for decades.  So anyone who should know what to hold on these issues, and would bear responsibility for his positions on these issues, would be someone like Fr. Wickens. The fact of the matter is that if one can pray for Fr. Wickens and consider him faithfully departed, then we are all wasting our time – we should all join the SSPX, because then one is saying that these issues of faith mean nothing and that one can be saved while obstinately adhering to the heretical positions of the SSPX (to whom Fr. Wickens willed his church). That being said, we of course acknowledge, accept and hope that anyone can convert or amend his positions before death.  And we truly hope that Fr. Wickens did, but since there is no evidence that he did change his positions on these issues of Faith before death – one cannot consider him faithfully departed without considering anyone who obstinately embraces heretical positions faithfully departed; and therefore, one cannot pray for him or encourage others to do so.  There must be evidence in the external forum that a person adhered to Catholic truth or converted to Catholic truth before death in order for a Catholic to pray for him and consider him faithfully departed.  In Fr. Wickens’ case, Catholics don’t have this evidence.  On the contrary, one of his last acts was to will his church to the heretical and schismatic SSPX, a group whose heresies he knew about for years.  Thus, one cannot pray for Fr. Wickens.  This position is fully in line with Catholic truth.