Will they submit?

The Church has made a generous and loving call to the Lefebvrists today. We might expect that as a result several of them will decide submit to Rome. They will find that all the things they have been saying over the years about how crucial it was for them to break away and be the one lone real voice, etc etc etc, will dwindle away, and they'll discover that it is really rather good to be faithful Catholics. There will probably be an intransigent rump that won't submit, and this in turn may splinter into two or more different groups.

Meanwhile the Church's understanding of religious freedom will continue to flourish and the invitation to "the examination and theological explanation of individual expressions and formulations" of Vatican II's words on the subject (I'm quoting from the Vatican's statement today on the discussions with the Lefebvrists) may lead them to see its richness. There is a tired, cul-de-sac feel to the SSPX line on the subject, and a sort of recognition that there is a main road that might be worth seeking out and joining...

I went today to a Catholic bookshop to buy prizes for a schools' project,and enjoyed browsing...realised how swiftly things become part of Catholic life, Catholic tradition, and the liiving reality of the Church. A book Miracles of John Paul II took me back, somehow, to some of the things I remember from my childhood telling of the miracles at Lourdes, or of my young adult years when I first heard about the miracles associated with Padre Pio. It is poignant to think of people in years to come praying to John Paul and adding to the next generation of books about him...and for them things like World Youth Day that he initiated will just seem part of Church life - rather as we see Lourdes pilgrimages, or Padre Pio prayer-groups...