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| '''Richard Nelson Williamson''', ] (born ] ]) is a ] of the ]. He was ] by the ] because of his ] by ], deemed by the ] to be "illicit" and "a ] act".<ref> </ref> | '''Richard Nelson Williamson''', ] (born ] ]) is a ] of the ]. He was ] by the ] because of his ] by ], deemed by the ] to be "illicit" and "a ] act".<ref> </ref> | ||
Revision as of 18:45, 29 July 2008
Richard Nelson Williamson, SSPX (born 8 March 1940) is a bishop of the Society of St. Pius X. He was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church because of his unauthorized consecration by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, deemed by the Holy See to be "illicit" and "a schismatic act".
Early life and ministry
Williamson was born in England, the second of three boys to Anglican parents. He attended Winchester College. After taking a degree in literature at the University of Cambridge, he taught at a college in Ghana. During this time he was greatly influenced by Malcolm Muggeridge and many believe this started his process of conversion to Catholicism. During his time in Africa, Williamson met with an elderly Albert Schweitzer in Gabon.
In 1971 Williamson was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Father John Flanagan, an Irish missionary priest working in England. After some time as a novice at the London Oratory, Williamson entered the Society of International Seminary of St. Pius X at Ecône in Switzerland. In 1976 he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Williamson's first appointment was as a professor at the German seminary of the Society in Weissbad, and after two years he was named at the St. Pius X International Seminary in Ecône, Switzerland. In 1983 he was transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Within a short time he was appointed rector of the seminary which moved to Winona, Minnesota in 1988.
Consecration and excommunication
Template:Bishop controversy SSPX
Life after 1988
After his episcopal consecration Williamson remained rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary. He performed various episcopal functions, including confirmations and ordinations. In 1991, he assisted in the consecration of Licínio Rangel as bishop for the Priestly Society of St. John Mary Vianney after the death of its founder, Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer.
In 2003 Williamson was appointed rector of the Seminary of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix in La Reja, Argentina.
In 2006, Williamson ordained two priests and seven deacons in Warsaw, Poland for the Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat, a group led by the priest Basil Kovpak whose 2003 excommunication by the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church was declared null on procedural grounds, but who was definitively excommunicated in November 2007. This action was considered illicit by the Catholic Church as Williamson violated canons 1015 §1 and 1017 of the Code of Canon Law, as he, acting outside his own jurisdiction, did not have the permission of the diocesan Bishop, and as he did not have valid dimissorial letters (cf. canons 1018 and 1019) authorizing him to perform the ordination anywhere.
Views of Bishop Williamson
Williamson has resisted moves aimed at reconciling the Society with Rome, which he calls duplicitous He has criticized the theology of Pope John Paul II and of Pope Benedict XVI, and said that he and Vatican officials "belong to two different religions", that the "heresy of neo-modernism" now controls the Vatican, and that "the Catholic world is now witnessing 'a war to the death between two directly opposed religions: the Catholic religion centered on God, and the conciliar religion centered on man and the modern world.' … Between these two religions, as such, there can be no peace until one of them is dead." Of Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos's efforts at negotiation with the SSPX he has said: "I do believe that behind the cardinal … there are villains at work, either Judeo-Masons or prelates working for Judeo-Masonry, who are far more sinister than this cardinal is. … is, in Lenin's phrase, a useful idiot who will be cast aside the moment he no longer serves their forward march to the One-World-Religion." While denying that he is antisemitic, he has endorsed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, declaring it authentic, has denied the Holocaust, and has said that the Jews aim at world dominion, and that they worship a god who is "an absolute devil". Williamson has claimed that the Twin Towers were certainly brought down not by aeroplanes but by professionally placed demolition charges. He has opposed the wearing of trousers or shorts by women, and said that attendance at university by girls was against their nature.
Episcopal succession
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Bibliography
- The Rural Solution: Modern Catholic Voices on Going Forward to the Land (2003, with P. Chojnowski, W. Marx, W. Nutting, C. McCann)
- Letters from the Rector - Volume 1: The Ridgefield Letters (2007)
- Letters from the Rector - Volume 2: The Winona Letters (set for 2008 publication)
References
- Apostolic Letter 'Ecclesia Dei'
- ^ "Lefebvrists face crisis as bishop is exposed as 'dangerous' anti-Semite". The Catholic Herald. Catholic Herald Limited. 3/5/2008. Retrieved 06/24/2008.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Text "First -Anna" ignored (help); Unknown parameter|Last=ignored (|last=suggested) (help) Cite error: The named reference "Herald" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - "Ukrainian priest excommunicated". Catholic World News. CWN. 11/23/2007. Retrieved 06/24/2008.
SSPX Bishop Richard Williamson illicitly ordained two SSJK priests and seven deacons.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - "Canon Law". 1983 Code of Canon Law: The Celebration of Ordination and the Minister. Vatican. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
- Pope woos conservatives expelled for rebellion
- Pope meets head of ultraconservative movement
- National Catholic Reporter, 2 September 2005
- Pope opens talks with Latin Mass renegades
- "He said … that the Pope had a 'weak grasp of Catholicism'" (Pope woos conservatives expelled for rebellion).
- "His past writings are full of Modernist errors. Now, Modernism is the synthesis of all heresies (Pascendi, Saint Pius X). So Ratzinger as a heretic goes far beyond Luther's Protestant errors, as Bishop Tissier de Mallerais well said" (Religious Newsletter Aletheia n°104 - 28 janvier 2007)
- Catholic World News: Vatican has replaced faith, SSPX bishop charges
- Catholic World News: Lefebvrist bishop says no reconciliation with Rome
- Catholic World News: SSPX bishop sees little hope for agreement with Rome
- National Catholic Reporter, 30 March 2001
- 1 May 2000
- Robert G. Weisbord and Wallace P. Sillanpoa: The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust (Transaction Publishers 1991 ISBN 0887384161), p. 202
- 1 February 1991 Letter
- Robert G. Weisbord and Wallace P. Sillanpoa: The Chief Rabbi, the Pope, and the Holocaust (Transaction Publishers 1991 ISBN 0887384161) p. 194
- Lecture by Williamson
- Bishop Williamson Letter, September 1, 1991
- 1 September 2001 Letter
External links
Writings by Bishop Williamson
- Letters of Bishop Williamson 1991-2003
- Quelques Infos Entre Nous (includes Bishop Williamson's Letters, 2004-2006)
- Weekly columns by Bishop Williamson, since July 2007
Others
Categories:- Traditionalist Catholic bishops
- Traditionalist Catholic writers
- Society of St. Pius X
- Dissident Roman Catholic theologians
- Old Wykehamists
- English Catholic Traditionalists
- Alumni of the University of Cambridge
- Converts to Roman Catholicism
- People excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church
- Antisemitism
- Conspiracy theorists