Apostolicity and succession in 'Zero Marks' – WM Review on Kokx News
In this interview, we discussed the apostolicity of the Church with Stephen Kokx from Kokx News.
In this interview, we discussed the apostolicity of the Church with Stephen Kokx from Kokx News.
(WM Round-Up) – On Monday 20 April 2026 – after nearly a month-long pause for Holy Week, Easter and the holidays – I appeared on Kokx News’s podcast Church and State with Stephen Kokx.
The conversation focused on the apostolicity of the Church, and the fourth chapter of my long article ‘Zero Marks’ – Why the Conciliar/Synodal Church is not the Catholic Church. Zero Marks is the second part of my response to Fr Thomas Crean OP’s article “The Perpetual Visibility of the Catholic Church Under the Pope.”
In Zero Marks, I spend two chapters discussing apostolicity and how it relates to the visibility of the Church. In the first part – covered in this interview – I discuss apostolicity of succession, examining the claim that this note and property are found in the Conciliar/Synodal Church. The following chapter deals with apostolicity of doctrine and of origin.
Topics in this interview included:
What is apostolicity?
Apostolic Succession
Formal and material succession
Fr Crean’s reduction of visibility to a claim to material succession
The exercise of apostolic authority
Renunciation of apostolic authority
The renunciation of authority continues
What are the consequences for this renunciation of authority?
Conclusions on the note of apostolicity
For reasons attributable only to ignorance or inadequate reading comrehension, The WM Review has been accused of ignoring or overlooking the importance of formal apostolic succession, and placing an exaggerated importance on apostolicity of doctrine and of government. Chapter IV and this interview should demonstrate the injustice of such an accusation; however, I have also directly engaged the accusation here:
We will be releasing Chapter IV of Zero Marks for all readers on Friday. But you can read it NOW in the full book-length article discussed here:
‘Zero Marks’ – Why the Conciliar/Synodal Church is not the Catholic Church (Reply to Fr Thomas Crean)
Articles mentioned:
How do you tell the true Church after a rupture? Journet’s answer
Polish theologian predicted Conciliar/Synodal Church and ‘puppet’ hierarchy in 1916
Have we ignored apostolicity of government/succession and over-focused on that of doctrine?
We must tell the full truth about the Pope Question: here’s why (Matthew McCusker’s excoriating article on misunderstandings of the clergy/laity relationship.
Other parts in the Zero Marks series:
‘Radically insufficient’ – Reply to Fr Crean on the Church’s visibility, Part I
‘Zero Marks’ – Why the Conciliar/Synodal Church is not the Catholic Church (Reply to Fr Thomas Crean) (All chapters and conclusion)
Disunited in Faith: Why the Conciliar/Synodal Church is not the Roman Catholic Church (‘Zero Marks’ Ch. I)
‘Comprehensive Rejection’: Is the Conciliar/Synodal Church visibly holy? (‘Zero Marks’, Ch. II)
Is the Conciliar/Synodal Church Catholic? (’Zero Marks’, Ch. III)
This interview was a follow up to a previous conversation on the first part, ‘Radically insufficient’ – Reply to Fr Crean on the Church’s visibility, Part I’. Here is the first interview:
Here is the second, on the property of unity:
Here is the third, on the property of holiness:
Here is the fourth, on the property of catholicity:
Thank you to Stephen for having me on again. I hope readers of The WM Review enjoy it – and give Kokx News a follow too.
HELP KEEP THE WM REVIEW ONLINE WITH WM+!
As we expand The WM Review we would like to keep providing free articles for everyone.
Our work takes a lot of time and effort to produce. If you have benefitted from it please do consider supporting us financially.
A subscription gets you access to our exclusive WM+ material, and helps ensure that we can keep writing and sharing free material for all.
You can see what readers are saying over at our Testimonials page.
And you can visit The WM Review Shop for our ‘Lovely Mugs’ and more.
(We make our WM+ material freely available to clergy, priests and seminarians upon request. Please subscribe and reply to the email if this applies to you.)
Subscribe to WM+ now to make sure you always receive our material. Thank you!
Follow on Twitter, YouTube and Telegram:
Twitter (The WM Review)