A Conversation with Fr. Hesse #2 (Audio + Video Footage)

This video is the second of three videos of conversations with Fr. Hesse where a wide variety of topics are discussed.

Notable parts and quotes of Fr. Hesse in this talk:

About arguments and who has the truth in arguments.

“One of the reasons why I’m not in all too familiar and good terms with the Conciliar Church is because they would want me to quote Vatican II, and after having stopped quoting Vatican II, to quote Paul VI and John Paul II. And they’re highly embarrassed when you come up with quotations that are from the Council of Trent or Pope Pius X that proves them wrong because they’re not interested in the truth; most of the time they defend a certain political purpose or they just want to be right.”

“I’ve never been interested in if I [personally] was right [in any given argument/debate]. I’m interested in WHAT is the truth, WHAT is correct, WHAT is right.”

“See: this is no way of arguing theology. In theology, you do not: never, ever try to hook somebody else to his own quotation. REAL theology – the way St. Thomas dealt with it – the way most of the greatest theologians did: you only want to find out the truth. You’re not interested in what the other one says.”

Fr. Hesse talks about which of the new rites of the sacraments he considers valid.

Fr. Hesse talks about what Archbishop Lefebvre said about the validity of the new sacraments.

Why he thinks the validity of the new rite of Confirmation is doubtful.

Fr. Hesse answers the question, “Can a priest or a religious, bishop, archbishop, cardinal, or pope be a Mason?” Then Fr. Hesse addresses the rumor going around that one of the bishops who consecrated Archbishop Lefebvre as a bishop was a Freemason.

Fr. Hesse discusses the Knights of Malta.

Fr. Hesse talks about secret societies and about the Opus Dei. “Oh, you want a secret society? Try to find out the membership of all the members in the Opus Dei… And you got a secret society! Try it. ‘The Escrivá testimonies’… Excuse me: ‘the Escrivá Witnesses’… language mistake, beg your pardon. The Jehovah Witnesses, the Escrivá Witnesses… Try to find out a full membership list of ‘the Escrivá Witnesses’ […]”

Interviewer: “Evidently the Opus Dei: you think there’s something subversive with them?” Fr. Hesse: “Yes, definitely!”

“By the way, the founder of the Opus Dei said that he had a doctorate not only in theology but also in canon law. I’ve never found anybody who would show me that. People have asked the Opus Dei to produce the document. And there’s no answer. I’m not saying he’s a liar. I’m just saying: I would like to see it.”

Fr. Hesse discusses how Pope John Paul II kissing the Quran was a public act of apostasy (but it might not be considered a formal act of apostasy).

Fr. Hesse answers whether beatifications and canonizations are infallible, but he says “he is open to facts” and open to reconsider things more deeply. For a more up-to-date and in-depth study on this matter, see this list of articles: http://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/list-doubts-canonizations-3960

On the indefectibility of the Church.

About how the future Pope Paul VI sided with the local Communist union against the Italian state.

Fr. Hesse talks about how Pope John XXIII lied.

Interviewer: “The American Church is trying to tell everyone that Vatican II was a godsend to the Church.” Fr. Hesse: “Maybe as a punishment.”

“Infallibility is THE fashionable error of the century.” (That is, ignorance of the conditions of and an incorrect application of the dogma of infallibility is the error of the century).

“So the German bishops got together (in those days they were Catholic)…”

Fr. Gregory Hesse, S.T.D., J.C.D., S.T.L., J.C.L., Canon Lawyer, Doctor of Thomistic Theology, lifelong friend and personal secretary of Cardinal Stickler at the Vatican from 1986-1988 has provided us with many talks and conferences where he gives a no-nonsense, intelligent, learned, and witty exposition and explanation of relevant topics facing contemporary faithful Catholics. Fr. Hesse got to know approximately 45 cardinals while studying and working in Rome for 15 years and he has an uncanny and substantial knowledge of many things. You would be hard-pressed to find another theologian quite like him.

Canon Hesse was related to the Hapsburg royal bloodline. He was born in Vienna in 1952, ordained by Cardinal Marella in St. Peter's Basilica on November 21, 1981, and earned doctorates in Canon Law and Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. He worked as a personal secretary of Cardinal Stickler at the Vatican from 1986 to 1988. He passed away on January 25, 2006. You would be hard-pressed to find another theologian quite like him. A breath of fresh air in today’s widespread climate of many weak, ignorant, and naive clerics and theologians, he was affectionately called by several of his friends during his life “the bull in the china shop.” His example, testimony, and insights no doubt played and will play an important role in Catholic thought and development. Listen to find out why.

You can download the free MP3 of all of Fr. Hesse’s talks to listen to on your computer or portable audio devices at: https://archive.org/details/FatherHesse
That link includes 33 talks totaling 38 hours, 50 minutes of audio.
You can also download them here: https://mega.nz/folder/7h52AYBY#6bmPr3KwWvgvsB2yBV7fkg

This video and all the remastered audio files at the above link have been professionally touched up to remove as much background noise, pops, crackles, and other audio imperfections as possible. Because the original recordings were done on cassette tapes with less-than-ideal audio equipment, there are a certain amount of audio artifacts and tape hiss that were not possible to entirely remove. However, the remastered audio files are significantly better than the originals.