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Dear Friends and Benefactors,
On June 30, 1988, ten years ago,
Archbishop Lefebvre found himself "obliged by divine providence to pass on
the grace of the Catholic bishopric" to four priests, including your
servant. In a letter he wrote to them, the Archbishop laid out the reasons which
had finally decided him to perform this act of such grave import in the face of
the whole Church.
"The corruption of the Holy
Mass has brought with it the corruption of the priesthood and the universal
decadence of faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ", accompanied by
the resolute intention, clearly shown by the Roman authorities, to continue with
"their work of destroying the reign of Our Lord, as proved by Assisi, and by
Rome's confirmation of the liberal theses of Vatican II on religious liberty".
The situation was so grave that
it demanded such a step be taken. Hard and fast action was needed to give the
church and the catholic priesthood a chance of surviving. Anybody taking too
natural or superficial a view of the Church could not understand the
Archbishop's action, and to this day we are accused of monstrous pride for
daring to claim that the act of consecrating bishops was justified.
Even today, ten years later,
although the situation has become markedly worse, how many people are still
letting themselves be deceived by what remains of the appearance and structure
of the Church? And certain societies that Rome raised up at that time to
deceive people, societies enjoying the privilege of celebrating the Traditional
Mass at the price of keeping a guilty silence on the reality of the drama being
played out before our eyes, prove that our vision of things is correct.
Beneath a show of apparent unity,
the Church is being tom apart; a special effort is being made to tear out its
soul, its spiritual treasure, that which distinguishes it from all other
religions and a1l other societies: its supernatural truth, its deposit, the
deposit of Revelation, of which it is the one and only guardian, its charity,
grace, the sacrifice, the priesthood.
If these things are still spoken
of at all they are emptied of any meaning they had prior to Vatican II, and the
daily practice of ecumenism shows how little the liberals care for all those
values of the past. Even if in theory they still profess the same Creed, in
practice they are far from it. In many seminaries, as in the majority of
churches still operating, it is the abomination of desolation and a mockery of
the truth which have replaced the Holy of Holies... if only it were an
exaggeration to say so!
The objection will be made that
in Rome there are nevertheless voices rebuking the excesses and abuses of the
progressives, and calling for a renewal of discipline: but are these voices
heeded? For example, what effect did the recent call to order have on the
ministry of the laity? Resistance and indifference... everything goes on
just like before, and Rome takes no action.
Let me tell you what really
happened just recently with two Dutchmen. They wondered how it was possible that
"the eternal Church could be so dramatically destroyed in their country".
They wrote a number of letters to Rome, but never received a reply. So they
decided to go down to Rome and tackle several cardinals, prelates, bishops... In
the course of their discussions, these, cardinals and bishops asked them to take
action themselves, to promote the Catholic Tridentine Mass, and to put an end to
Eucharistic picnics, the "table-meal shows". The cardinals and bishops
themselves could do nothing, they said. It is the Catholic laity that must act
to save the Church… The Dutchmen remained a few days in Rome after which the
message was clear: "Rome could not help in any way" (letter to the
Superior General of March 7, 1998).
Should we lose heart, fight, play
deaf and dumb. On the contrary: more than ever we must shake off the sloth lying
in wait for us, we must re-activate our faith, faith in Our Lord, faith in his
promises for His Church. The enemy is powerful, but Our Lord more so, infinitely
more so.
And we have the proof of this in
the way in which He is watching over this little Society of the Church, tossed
about in the heart of the storm, yet being protected at the same time, and which
is producing those gentle flowers of grace and sanctity which the Church has
always produced, even while the storm rages all around.
Whereas the teaching is rotten in
official seminaries and universities (cf. Fideliter March 1988),
we are consoled to see priests of ours so formed as to be able to travel
throughout the world bringing to souls the comfort of God's forgiveness and the
Bread of Angels. Amidst a world going steadily more crazy these priests provide
souls with the meaning of life and the means of pleasing Almighty God by
fulfilling one's daily duty of state. These priests remind people how they need
to carry their cross following Christ Crucified to attain eternal happiness.
The harvest is abundant as ever,
only there are too few workers to gather it in. Ask the master of the harvest
with tears and sacrifices for what the Superior General, dearly as he would love
to, cannot yet give you... By penance and perseverance in prayer, by a family
fife arranged to please the Sacred Heart, by the daily practice of justice and
charity, let us show Our Lord that we are ready to pay the price, because it is
something we truly value, of receiving priests from Him according to His Heart,
other Christs.
We count on your prayers, dear
benefactors, even more than on your gifts, in return for which we ask God richly
to bless you, console you and protect you. Thanks to you the church of the
seminary in Econe is almost finished and we are planning for its blessing next
October 10. A good third of the cost is already covered, and we are now turning
towards two new important projects: all that is lacking for building to start on
the church of Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Seminary in Argentina is the
financial resources. Also we want to build a seminary in the Philippines, a
country, where the Society of St. Pius X is developing in almost miraculous
fashion. The mayor of Quezon City, a city of more than 2,000,000 inhabitants,
has just consecrated his city to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in our church, in
the presence of Bishop Lazo and our priests, while medical missions for the
relief of the poor and the sick are multiplying with the help of our 19
doctors... to say nothing of the pre-seminary and a pre-novitiate for the
sisters...
All of these undertakings, as you
well know, are impossible without material support and can only develop to the
extent of your fraternal charity. May your alms and sacrifices, for which we'
are so grateful to you, and which cover a multitude of sins, be one day,
accompanied by the prayers' of our priests and seminarians, your best allies to
help you into Heaven!
May St. Joseph, protector of Holy Church, guard
yourselves and your families.
+ Bernard Fellay,
Superior General
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