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Superior General's
Letter to Friends & Benefactors |
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#68 |
September 29, 2005 |
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| Dear Friends &
Benefactors,
In a few weeks we shall have the great joy of
celebrating the centenary of the birth of our venerated founder,
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. What an extraordinary figure this
tireless missionary presents, missionary first of all in Africa to
bring the Gospel, and then missionary in Europe and the whole
world so that the Catholic Faith might be preserved whole and
entire.
We would like to dwell upon his magnificent
stature and the profound virtues that characterized him throughout
his life, but in light of the audience we had at the end of August
with Pope Benedict XVI, we shall be content to reproduce a
document that sheds light both on the wisdom and perspicacity of
our founder, as well as upon the rule which guided him and which
we, too, wholly espouse.
In 1966, thus just a year after the Council's
close, Archbishop Lefebvre responded to questions posed by the
Prefect of the Holy Office, Cardinal Ottaviani, on the situation
in the Church in the following letter:
I dare say that the present evil seems to me
something very much more serious than the negation or placing in
doubt of any one truth of our faith. It manifests itself in our
day by an extreme confusion of ideas, by the disaggregation of
the Church's institutions, religious institutes, seminaries,
Catholic schools, and, finally, of what had been the Church's
permanent support; but it is nothing other than the logical
continuation of the heresies and errors which have been sapping
the Church for the last several centuries, especially since the
liberalism of the 19th century, which has done its
utmost, no matter the cost, to reconcile the Church and the
ideas that culminated in the French Revolution. In the measure
that the Church has opposed these ideas, which are contrary to
sane philosophy and theology, it has advanced; on the contrary,
the least compromise with these subversive ideas has provoked an
alignment of the Church with civil law and risked making it a
slave to civil society.
Moreover, each time groups of Catholics let
themselves be attracted by these myths, the Popes courageously
corrected them, instructed them, and, if need by, condemned
them. Catholic liberalism was condemned by Pius IX, modernism by
Leo XIII, Sillonism by St. Pius X, communism by Pius XI, and
neo-modernism by Pius XII. Thanks to this admirable vigilance,
the Church was strengthened and developed. Conversions of pagans
and Protestants were very numerous, heresy was completely
routed, and the States accepted legislation in keeping with
Catholic doctrine.
Nevertheless, groups of religious imbued with
these false ideas succeeded in spreading them through Catholic
Action, and in the seminaries thanks to a certain indulgence on
the part of bishops and the toleration of certain Roman
dicasteries. It was from among these priests that bishops were
soon to be chosen.
It is in this context that we must situate
the Council, which, through the work of the Preparatory
Commission, was preparing to proclaim the truth in the face of
these errors in order to make them disappear for a long time
from the Church's midst. It would have spelled the end of
Protestantism and the beginning of a new, fruitful era of the
Church.
But this preparation was odiously rejected in
order to make way for the worst tragedy the Church has ever
suffered. We have witnessed the marriage of the Church with
liberal ideas. It would be to deny the evidence and to shut
one's eyes not to affirm courageously that the Council allowed
those who profess the errors and tendencies condemned by the
popes named above to legitimately believe that their doctrines
were henceforth approved.
One can and one unfortunately must affirm
that, in a general way, when the Council innovated, it shook the
certitude of the truths taught by the authentic Magisterium of
the Church as belonging definitively to the treasure of
Tradition.
Whether it be the transmission of the
bishops' jurisdiction, the two sources of Revelation, the
inspiration of Scripture, the necessity of grace for
justification, the necessity of Catholic baptism, the life of
grace among heretics, schismatics and pagans, the ends of
marriage, religious liberty, the last things, etc.: on
all these fundamental points, the traditional doctrine was clear
and unanimously taught in Catholic universities. Now, numerous
Conciliar texts on these truths henceforth allow doubts.
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Doubts about the necessity of the Church and
the sacraments lead to the disappearance of priestly vocations.
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Doubts about the
necessity and the nature of the "conversion" of every soul lead
to the disappearance of religious vocations, the ruin of
traditional spirituality in the novitiates, and the futility of
the missions.
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Doubts about the
legitimacy of authority and the duty of obedience provoked by
the exaltation of human dignity, the autonomy of conscience, and
of freedom shake all societies starting with the Church,
religious societies, the dioceses, civil society, and the
family.
The normal result of pride is the burgeoning
of the concupiscence of the eyes and of the flesh. Perhaps one
of the most frightful observations to be made about our epoch is
to note to what a level of moral degradation most Catholic
publications have descended. They speak without the least
reticence about sexuality, birth control by any means, the
legitimacy of divorce, of co-education of dating, of dances as a
necessary part of Christian education, of priestly celibacy,
etc.
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Doubts about the necessity of grace in order
to be saved provoke the undervaluing of baptism and its
postponement, and the abandonment of the sacrament of penance.
Moreover, this especially involves an attitude of priests and
not of the faithful. The same goes for the Real Presence: it is
the priests who act as if they no longer believed by hiding the
Sacred Host, by suppressing all marks of respect towards the
Blessed Sacrament and all the ceremonies in Its honor.
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Doubts about the
necessity of the Church as the unique source of salvation and
about the Catholic Church as the only true religion originating
in the declaration on ecumenism and religious liberty, destroy
the authority of the Church's magisterium. Indeed, Rome is no
longer the unique and necessary "Magistra Veritatis".
Compelled by the facts, it is necessary to
conclude that the Council has favored, inconceivably, the
diffusion of liberal errors. Faith, morals, and ecclesiastical
discipline have been shaken in their foundation according to the
predictions of all the popes.
The destruction of the Church is rapidly
advancing. By an exaggerated authority given to the episcopal
conferences, the Sovereign Pontiff has rendered himself
ineffectual. In a single year how many painful examples of this
have we witnessed! Still, the Successor of Peter, and he alone,
can save the Church.
Here are the solutions recommended by
Archbishop Lefebvre:
Let the Holy Father surround himself with
vigorous defenders of the Faith; let him designate them in the
important dioceses. Let him deign, by important documents, to
proclaim truth, pursue error without fear of contradictions,
without fear of schisms, without fear of questioning the
pastoral dispositions of the Council.
May the Holy Father deign: to encourage the
bishops to uphold faith and morals, each in his respective
diocese, as befits every good pastor; to support the courageous
bishops, encouraging them to reform their seminaries and to
restore studies according to St. Thomas; to encourage the
general superiors to uphold in the novitiates and communities
the fundamental principles of Christian asceticism, especially
obedience; to encourage the development of Catholic schools, a
doctrinally sound Catholic press, associations of Catholic
families; and, finally, to reprimand the instigators of errors
and reduce them to silence. The Wednesday allocutions cannot
replace encyclical letters, mandates, and letters to bishops.
Undoubtedly, it is bold of me to express myself in this way! But
it is from a burning love that I write these lines, love of
God's glory, love of Jesus, love of Mary, love of the Church and
of the Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus
Christ....
Everything has been said, and even today there
is nothing to add or remove from this remarkable analysis of the
logical consequences of the Council, replaced in its historical
context, and of the reforms that were then on the horizon, and
even of the depth of the crisis which had struck the Church and
from which she has still not escaped, held fast by the principles
with which the Council and the popes have bound her.
We think quite frankly that the solution to the
problem that the Society creates for Rome is intimately linked to
the resolution of the crisis which has struck the Church. The day
that the authorities again look with a benevolent eye and with
hope upon the Church's past and her Tradition, they will be able
to get beyond the rupture caused by the Council and to be
reconciled with the eternal principles on which the Church has
been built for twenty centuries; they will be able to draw
strength and to find the solution to the crisis. And then there
will no longer be a Society of St. Pius X "problem".
That is the reason for our discussions with the
Holy See. That is the fundamental problem. The new Mass and the
Council are just the tip of the iceberg that has struck the barque
of the Church; the spirit of the Council proceeds from liberalism,
from Protestantism, and, ultimately, from the revolt against God
which will mark the history of men until the end of time. What
would be the point of an accord that would consist in letting
oneself be sunk by the iceberg.
We heartily thank you for all your prayers and
generous sacrifices. All of that is very precious to us. In our
visits to Rome and in all our activities, we rely very much upon
them. Please be assured in return of the seminarians' prayers and
ours at the foot of the altar in thanksgiving for your unceasing
generosity.
On the Feast of St. Michael
September 29, 2005
+ Bernard Fellay
May Our Lord's sacrifice be your daily support!
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary be your protection and refuge.
With all my gratitude, I bless you. |
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