New CDs arrive in store; what the future holds
Dear Friends,
I thought I was insanely busy during July. But August is proving to be twice as jam-packed and challenging!
Just before I left on my July 31-August 4 speaking trip to Chattanooga TN and Georgia I recorded and released two new CDs. One is entitled “Two Bishops and a Boomerang: How sedevacantist bishop Donald Sanborn’s devastasting critique of ex-SSPX bishop Richard Williamson inadvertently invalidates his own sacerdotal legitimacy."
Ex-SSPX “bishop” Richard Williamson (and the SSPX, and all non-sedevacantist traditionalists) reject the "sedevacantist" conclusion. This is the conclusion that the current crisis in Catholicism can only be adequately accounted for by recognizing that John XXIII (1958-1963) and all subsequent occupants of the papacy, up to and including the current occupant, Francis, because they teach heresy, cannot legally hold title to the see of Peter, though they physically occupy it as usurpers; the "see" is thus legally "vacant."
Williamson and the SSPX reject this sedevacantist conclusion because they hold the erroneous belief that the Church is only infallibile in her extraordinary magisterium, that relatively rare exercise of her teaching office that occurs only when dogmas are defined at ecumenical councils or by popes in solemn definitions.
According to this erroneous belief, the Church is not infallible in her ordinary magisterium -- that is, in the exercise of her teaching office expressed in, for example, ordinary papal encyclicals, or the decrees issued by the supposedly merely "pastoral" (and therefore, according to this belief, non-dogmatic) Second Vatican Council. As Vatican II and its aftermath only invoke the ordinary magisterium, the Vatican II church and the Vatican II popes can thus teach doctrinal error and still be the true Church and true popes, according to this erroneous theory.
Donald Sanborn is another ex-SSPX cleric, who is now an independent Thuc-line sedevacantist bishop, and for whose intelligence and erudition I have a great respect, as I do for many of his clerical confreres, who, along with him, make up those I regretfully but honestly believe to be (whether sedevacantist or non-sedevacantist) the "unauthorized shepherds" of "the Catholic (sic) traditionalist movement."(See my "Unauthorized Shepherds" CD, available for $10.95 from our online store, for the relevant argumentation.)
In an article that my new "Two Bishops and a Boomerang" CD analyzes and comments upon, Bishop Sanborn brilliantly proves that this denial of the Church’s ordinary infallibility is in fact a heretical innovation hatched by SSPX founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, one taught to all SSPX seminarians (including Williamson and Sanborn, as well as Frs. Cekada, Dolan, Kelly, Collins, Zapp, et al).
But if (as Sanborn proves) the SSPX taught heresy from its inception, then the SSPX was never a part of the Catholic Church, since the Church cannot teach heresy (the latter being a point that Sanborn himself repeatedly stresses).
The unwelcome (to him) but inescapable conclusion of Sanborn’s own argumentation and documentation is that neither he nor any other ex-SSPX cleric was ever ordained in the real Catholic Church, therefore, but only in a heretical sect. And no such sectarian cleric ever becomes a priest or bishop of the Catholic Church merely becauses he wishes to be accounted so -- even if he becomes more doctrinally consistent by becoming "sedevacantist" in his theology! This is a devastating but unavoidable consequence for all such unauthorized clergy.
The second new CD is an overview of the structure of apologetics entitled “Seeing the Big Picture: How to Get “Home” via the Baseball Diamond of Basic Beliefs.” It shows the logical progression from a) belief in objective truth & the rationality of the human mind, coupled with intellectual honesty, to b) belief in God to c) belief in Christ to d) belief in Catholicism to e) avoiding both the counterfeit Catholicism of the “left” (Vatican II) as well the counterfeit Catholicism of the “right” (unauthorized post-Vatican II traditionalist clergy and their chapels).
The CD lays this out in an easy-to-memorize-and-master fashion by comparing all these logical steps to the essential elements of coming up to bat in baseball, getting a hit, and rounding first, second, and third base to end up back at home plate to score a run.
Free copies of both CDs are currently in the mail on their way to my little handful of faithful monthly donors as a very inadequate way of saying a hearty “thank you” for their ongoing support of this humble little (but I believe crucial) lay apostolate. The rest of you can order these for $10.95 each from our online store, www.gerrymatatics.org/shop.
The aforementioned 5-day trip to Chattanooga and Georgia went reasonably well, thanks be to God. In addition to advertising the talk I gave on that trip — “Three Little-Known Biblical Signs of the End Times: How They’ve Come to Pass in Our Day” — beforehand on my website and by mailing out fliers to everyone on my mailing list who lives within an hour or two drive of Chattanooga (southeastern TN, northeastern AL, northwestern GA), I advertised it on both the website as well as the church page of the Chattanooga metropolitan newspaper, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, which resulting in several people coming from the diocese, including at least one permanent deacon and his wife!
This provided an unprecedented opportunity for me to make the case — in both the talk and the ensuing Q & A session (which went on until around midnight!) — against the counterfeit Catholicism of Vatican II and for the authentic, uncompromised Catholic Faith to people who wouldn’t normally hear this position articulated and defended. Needless to say, this proved a traumatic experience for those in the audience who did not know of my recusant beliefs! A CD recording of that talk will be added to our online store later this month.
I'm not resting on the laurels of the two just-released CDs or the Chattanooga talk CD, however. Here are fourteen other CD releases I’m currently recording this month and next month, which will also be making their debut on our online store as each one is individually produced:
“A Biblical Solution to the Bitter Dispute over Baptism of Blood and Desire.” (I’ve seen this contentious issue needlessly divide families and produce overheated rhetoric and acrimonious accusations on both sides, and the time is long overdue to end this feud for sake of true, uncompromising unity among the remnant of faithful Catholics in these end times. I will debating the issue with someone at the end of August; this CD will be a recording of this important, and hopefully healing, debate.)
"As It Was in the Days of Noah: The Startling Parallels between the Cultural Collapse Preceding the Primeval Flood and Our Own Turbulent Times -- And What to Do About It.” (This is the talk I gave in California and Arizona in April. The “Noah” movie starring Russell Crowe, which had just hit theaters the day before my CA/AZ lecture tour began, has just come out on DVD, and people need to have its abominable anti-Biblical disinformation exposed and refuted.)
"Why 'But Where Can We Go to Mass?' Is the Wrong Question: How Sacred Scripture and the Fathers & Doctors of the Church Teach A Sacramental Drought and a Eucharistic Famine for the Last Days, and Why God Had to Take Away the Mass in Execution of His Covenant Sanctions.”
"Dark Day of Double Deception (The Lowest of Low Sundays): Why John XXIII and John Paul II Are More Dangerous Dead Than Alive, and How Their Counterfeit Canonizations Take the Apocalyptic Apostasy of the Last Days to its Final Stages.”
“The All-Important, All-Consoling Doctrine of Divine Providence: How Almighty God is Completely in Control of the Seeming Chaos of Current Events, and How We Can Sleep Soundly at Night, Trustfully Surrendered to His Sovereign Rule over Human Affairs.”
“Fellowshipping with Francis? Why Francis is a Heretical Antipope & Why You Therefore DON’T Want to Be Attending a Mass That Puts You in Union with Him.” (This single CD replaces the “Bonding with Benedict” 3-CD set.)
“The Deep Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, Part 1: The Joyful Mysteries” (a 5-CD set).
“The Book of Ruth: A Royal Ruby among the Gems of the Old Testament, and a Confirmation of Catholic Truth.” Ruth is the first short book of the Old Testament (it has only 4 short chapters; the number of chapters found in the seven preceding books are as follows: Genesis, 50; Exodus, 40; Leviticus, 27; Numbers, 36; Deuteronomy, 34; Joshua, 24; Judges, 21), which is why I selected it as the debut CD of my new “Treasures of the Old Testament” multi-CD set, which will constitute a complete, book-by-book survey of the OT.
“Catholic Teaching on the Church: How Ignorance of the Subject Contributes to the Current Confusion.”
“The Curse of Contraception: The Biblical Basis of the Church’s Condemnation of Birth Control.”
I have a MAJOR problem, however. I don’t lack the message or the necessary enthusiasm to put out these CDs. I do, however, lack the necessary funds to buy the blank CDs I’ll need to make the copies on and the cases to put them in, to print the cover inserts for the cases, and to incur other associated production costs (unless I foolishly go further into debt by putting these expenditures on my already overloaded credit cards, which currently carry an accumulated balance of nearly $90,000, which I’ve incurred just by keeping this apostolate going month after month, year after year).
You can help SOLVE this problem by purchasing several CDs — including our two new CDs — from our online store today. Give copies of “Two Bishops and a Boomerang” to any family or friends who attend chapels either of the SSPX or of ex-SSPX clergy like Bishops Sanborn, Dolan, or Kelly, Fr. Cekada, et al. Give copies of “Seeing the Big Picture” to anyone who needs to see how the case for consistent Catholicism fits into the larger framework of religious reality.
When you place your order — whether online, by phone, or by mail — PLEASE consider adding a $50 or $100 (or more) donation to the total amount. My latest appeal — when I asked folks in early July to help fund my trip to Chattanooga — had the lowest response ever in the 23-year history of Biblical Foundations International: only a handful of faithful donors responded, with relatively small donations.
My previous appeal, in May, to fund my “Deep Mysteries of the Rosary” CD series, saw our second lowest response ever. (That’s why that CD set is still in production. I also decided, rather than wait until the funding reached the level necessary to make production of all 15 CDs possible, to release the first five CDs, on the joyful mysteries, this month, in hopes that sales of that first set would then enable me to move on to the production of the CDs on the sorrowful, and finally those on the glorious mysteries.)
In addition to producing the above CDs, I’ve also promised to launch my new multimedia website this month, as well as my new BlogTalkRadio channel to begin broadcasting (and recording) my “Riding the Train of Truth” apologetics course. But these new outreaches, like everything else in life, cost money (monthly hosting fees, for example, for both the website and the BlogTalk channel).
Without your help this full-time apostolate (which earns me a poverty-level income of under $25,000 with which to provide for a family of 11!) is now in imminent danger of withering away to a weekend hobby, as I’ll be forced to take a full-time teaching job teaching French and Latin at a local school to support my family, which will consume the time needed to produce the above CDs, launch the new website and BlogTalk Radio channel, and continue to give talks and debates.
I don’t want that to happen, and I don’t think you do, either! Our need has never been greater, and we are desperately facing an unpleasant decision that we hope won’t be necessary. Please send as sacrificial an offering as you can afford at this time, and may Almighty God abundantly repay you!
Yours in the great task of saving souls
— the only thing that eternally matters,
Gerry Matatics