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Dear Friends and Benefactors,
A few days ago, God recalled to Himself the soul of Bishop
Salvador Lazo. Bishop Lazo, retired bishop of San Fernando de la Union in the
Philippines, joined in the fight for Tradition in 1995. With an admirable
courage he took up the pen to try to tell the clergy of his own country, priests
and bishops, what he himself had been given the grace to discover: an enormous
crisis is overwhelming Mother Church, and the time has come for action. To this
he gave witness as best he could allover the world, but especially by lectures
in English-speaking countries.
Despite pressure brought to bear on him by his
fellow-bishops and even by Rome. He faithfully continued to defend the Truth,
which he had re-discovered after spending a quarter of a century under the
influence of the Council. He explained how for the most part bishops are buried
beneath administrative paperwork and hardly have the time to think. Most of them
follow orders coming down from above, from Rome, from the episcopal conference,
which makes sure to give out only news selectively screened: for example, it was
only after he re-joined Catholic Tradition that Bishop Lazo learned around 1996,
that in 1984 the old Mass had been allowed again under certain conditions.
His courage was a great
consolation and source of strength for all of us over the last few years,
especially for our priests in Asia. His unreserved support for the work of
Archbishop Lefebvre and his developing a solid and deep friendship with our
priests earned him in addition the animosity of the bishops of his own land,
albeit tempered by their respect for his seniority. However he was always under
pressure.
Our priests in Manila kept watch by him day and night for
the last month of his painful illness. He would give his soul back to God in the
arms of our priests, in our priory. "I offer these sufferings for the
conversion of bishops". "I wish to go home". He said
to our priests who were faintly puzzled:
Yes, I wish to go to Heaven... My
God, if you wish, you may come and fetch me. The Nuncio
may come and visit me... I shall tell him that I am dying for Jesus Christ and
not for men.
In accordance with his last wishes, we had the honor of
burying him in our church in Manila, named after Our Lady of Victories, a
program in itself. There he lies waiting for the resurrection of the dead and
for the Last Judgment which will show forth the grandeur of soul of this upright
bishop, esteemed by his fellow-bishops for "his wisdom, prudence and
undeniable achievements". Yet none of them were there to accompany him
as he was buried according to the Pontifical Mass with five absolutions. No
doubt they feared to be infected by Catholic Tradition, at the same time as they
dare to invite pagans and idolaters to enter the very cathedral of Manila!
One of our priests dared in all
simplicity to ask if the bishop thought he knew where the grace of his
conversion to Tradition had come from. He replied with the same simplicity that
he thought that his Holy Hour every day was partly responsible, also his
devotion to the Holy Rosary.
Let us hope that his prayers and
sacrifice will soon be answered, and that the day is not too far off when we see
an army of bishops rejoining the ancient Tradition of the Church. What immense
good would come of it!
While in Manila, we took the opportunity to look at life
in the priory. Since September of 1998, two priests have been taken away from
Manila to look after the pre-seminary, which we have set up on another island to
the south. From there, they prepare future seminarians and brothers, and also
look after Catholics in the region of Cebu. So the Manila community has been
somewhat reduced, to five priests, reaching from Japan to Hong Kong, not
forgetting Korea. They also prepare young women who think they have a vocation
to the religious life, who live together in two houses not too far away from the
priory. In addition, they continue to promote parish life and the medical
missions in Manila itself. The latest of these missions was a huge success: in
one day more than 900 patients from poor parts of the city were treated. About
three times a year doctors, dentists and parishioners of Our Lady of Victories
devote one full day to this good cause. A whole street is sealed off by the
township. A large tent is set up, and from sunrise to sunset an uninterrupted
stream of poor people comes from nearby to be treated. After a brief
questioning, they are directed towards the different doctors present. One can
only admire such Christian charity at work!
If only today's world could see
everywhere this charity in action, seeking only to relieve, by giving without
expecting anything in return. Charity comes up with all kinds of new devices!
The capital city of White Russia recognized the same devotion to the welfare of
men when it honored one of our priests for his humanitarian action in the city
of Minsk!
Although such humanitarianism is
not our primary concern, doubtless something would be missing from Catholic
Tradition if such temporal works of mercy were lacking. But that is not the
case. Indeed the numerous marks of fraternal charity to be found amongst our
faithful, and reaching outside the boundaries of Catholic Tradition, are reason
for profound gratitude to God on our part: charity will overcome our world of
wickedness and lies, cowardice and deceit. We well know, God is infinitely
greater than the evil of the crisis shaking our age to its roots in which we
cannot help seeing a foreshadow of the terrible time of the Antichrist. Yes, God
will conquer, the Church will triumph once more. What an honor to be able to
take part in today's great battle! Christ must reign, families must once more
become Christian. The whole world must recognize its Creator and Savior and bend
at last beneath His gentle yoke. Let us all set to work, each of us in his
appointed place, to undertake this great task. Charity cannot be restrained.
For despite the incredible stunts of a Rome making us ask
with an ever greater anxiety "Quo vadis?", "Rome, where
are you going?"; despite the curious and stunning spectacle of certain
Jubilee ceremonies turning into a sort of masonically flavored madness, such as
the humiliating request for forgiveness of March 12 corresponding so exactly to
the reproaches long flung at the Church by her enemies that it is impossible not
to make the connection; despite expressions such as "the globalization
of solidarity" uttered by Mr. Kofi Annan last April 7, suggesting that
the global economy and whole world are about to be forced into line with the
United Nations; despite Mr. Gorbachev's inviting socialists to follow John Paul
II, an invitation certainly not to be taken lightly; despite all these things
and much besides, we firmly maintain our hope.
And our August pilgrimage will be
our proclamation that we cleave to Eternal Rome, to the Church's immemorial
Tradition, to the Catholic Faith. Come in large numbers to show your lively
faith and your unshakable will to remain Catholic, cost what it may.
"In the end, my Immaculate Heart
will triumph",
said Our Lady at Fatima. When times are so tragic, let us know how to find in
our Lord, in the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady, in the Sacred Heart, the
strength, vigor and enthusiasm of the followers of Christ. The world will pass
away, but God and the Word of God will not pass away.
Nonetheless our duty to pray and
to make sacrifices is urgent; to pray for our salvation and fidelity, to pray
for priests and bishops. So we would like to bring this letter to an end with a
prayer for priests, written in the last century by a priest, and which we
suggest you pray from time to time. May God repay your ever ready generosity
with an abundance of graces and blessings.
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