Occasion for scandal

 

Catholic traditionalism is a current inside and outside the Catholic Church which opposes the reforms initiated by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). There are several different kinds of traditionalists, and to the general public they are mostly known for two things (if at all): the Tridentine Mass (often referred to as "the Latin Mass")...and Mel Gibson! But perhaps there is more?  

"Occult Lineages within the Traditional Roman Catholic Movement" is a book by Catholic ritual magician (sic) Agostino Taumaturgo. The author is apparently a former traditionalist, and in this little book sets out to expose the hidden connections between this current and - wait for it - occultism. 

Or maybe not. 

After reading the booklet, I can only conclude that there is zero evidence for any *real* (or shall we say "material") connection between the Trad Catholics and the minions of the Evil One. Indeed, Taumaturgo himself doesn´t claim that there is. 

Rather, the claim is that certain lineages of ordination that exist within the Traditional Catholic movement have also been appropriated by Martinists, Gnostics, Freemasons and so on. Moreover, the lineages include closeted homosexuals and even a convicted paedophile. Since traditionalist Catholics are apparently notorious for their purism and purity-spiraling, this could (perhaps) be an "occasion for scandal" (something these people have a paranoid fear about). Taumaturgo believes otherwise, and theologically speaking he seems quite correct. Indeed, it´s not even clear why he published the pamphlet in the first place. Click bait? Or to shake the trad Catholics out of their complecency, since they tend to believe that their priests are 100% pure and holy-holy?

The Catholic Church, naturally, claims "apostolic succession". The claim is that the Church priesthood can be traced back, through a series of valid and licit ordinations, all the way to the original apostles. And since they were (one way or another) appointed by Christ, He is the true founder of the Church. Groups which have broken away from the Catholic Church often also claim apostolic succession, as do some groups with no Catholic backgrounds at all, for instance the "Liberal Catholic Church" (really a front for the Adyar-based Theosophical Society). For complex theological and crypto-political reasons, the Catholic Church consider some breakaway Churches to have valid ordinations and hence apostolic succession. At the same time, their ordinations aren´t considered licit. That an ordination of a priest can be valid and yet illicit is a difficult concept to wrap one´s head around, and indeed the Church often avoids discussing the matter, fearing that malcontents will only pick up the "valid" part! Note also that the succession isn´t broken by sinful conduct. An ordination is valid even if the priest is an open or closeted heretic or lives in mortal sin.

Having valid ordinations and hence apostolic succession isn´t just a bureaucratic or nostalgic thing - at least not if you take Catholicism seriously as a religious path - but also gives the priest the needed authority to administer the sacraments, some of which are considered necessary for salvation, being conduits of God´s grace. If a splinter group from the Catholic Church holds a similar view of the sacraments, it obviously becomes extremely important for them to demonstrate that their priests and bishops, too, have at least "valid" ordinations. Still, I have to say that the whole thing looks like a LARP sometimes, with various obscure groups (some with only tenuous connections to Catholicism) swapping lineages with each other. Sometimes, the discussion enters La-La-Land: apparently, some occultists claim that Aleister Crowley had apostolic succession!

Most of the criss-crossing lineages described by Taumaturgo seem to originate in the Old Catholic Churches, which despite their name, have nothing to do with Catholic traditionalism. Old Catholics are the result of splits from the Catholic Church during the 18th and 19th centuries. While the Old Catholics are of course seen as schismatic by the "real" Catholic Church, the latter grudgingly admits that the Old Catholic ordinations are technically valid (but not licit - see above). This means that even a person with no prior connection to the Catholic Church can recieve a valid ordination from Old Catholics, and over the years, many spiritual seekers have done so. This is how Old Catholic lineages were appropriated, or perhaps expropriated, by occultists. The so-called Independent Sacramental Movement (which includes the Liberal Catholic Church) consist in large part of groups with Old Catholic ordinations. Some ISM groups seem pretty mainstream theologically, while others practice various forms of esotericism. Taumaturgo has discovered a few Old Catholic lineages which were appropriated by esoterical groups and then found their way into Catholic traditionalism. I almost suspect it may have been by mistake!

The book is frankly hard to follow, not because it´s badly written but due to the nature of the topic, but if I understand the author correctly, the main "occult" lineages have gone the way of Roger Caro´s L´Eglise Universelle de la Nouvelle Alliance, a French group which at least outwardly was Catholic in theological orientation, while a literally esoteric (secret) section may have been Gnostic or Rosicrucian. A member of this group, Mamistra Olivares, had first been consecrated by Caro himself and later by a traditionalist. (An ordination of a bishop is often referred to as a "consecration".) Olivares subsequently consecrated another traditionalist. But is there any evidence that the traditionalists knew about Olivares´ real views? 

Another person consecrated by Caro, George Bellamere, subsequently consecrated André Barbeau, the leader of a group in Canada known as the Catholic Charismatic Church (Barbeau also held other lineages, including one from the official Catholic Church). Several traditionalist bishops can trace their lineage back to this person (including a certain Agostino Taumaturgo). But the Charismatic Church doesn´t seem to have been occult, and once again it´s not clear whether Barbeau knew that Caro was a Gnostic or Rosicrucian. Weirdly, Barbeau was also part of another ordination lineage which included people with Theosophical connections or near-Theosophical ideas, but once again, he might not have known this, since the lineage also goes through Old Catholics.

Are you even following this? ;-)

Taumaturgos ends with predicting that the traditionalist Catholic movement will be near-dead in 100 years. If or when the Catholic Church reintroduces the Tridentine Mass as an option, most Catholics who attend traditionalist services will quickly revert back to the official Church, leaving only a handful of hardliners. Apparently, most people who hang around the Trad movement do it for the Latin Mass alone, having little time for the rest of the package. He believes that changes are bound to happen once the first "GenX-er Pope" is elected, such a person being born too late to have any emotional investment either way in the post-Vatican II controversies surrounding the mass. Besides, many Catholics grew up with the New Mass and might not see it as particularly problematic in the first place. The author doesn´t seem to have any solution to the problem (or predicament). 

While "Occult Lineages in the Traditional Roman Catholic Movement" doesn´t expose any actual devil-worship among Mel Gibson´s friends, it may be of some interest to a special kind of hardline nerds and sect-watchers who simply must know every detail about every peculiar little group out there. In other words, people like yourself! Or perhaps me? Available free from the author´s website.