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Newsletter of the District of Asia January 1997 Superior
General's Letter #51 Menzingen, Dear Friends and Benefactors, Why did the visit of the Holy Father to France this autumn cause such an uproar? It was not the first time that John-Paul II was visiting the eldest daughter of the church, but it was the first time that Freemasonry and its satellite organizations came out in open opposition by preparing a so-called “non-welcome” for the Pope. Why? Because the occasion of this journey was the 1500th anniversary of France’s baptism, on Christmas Day, 496. King Clovis and a number of his soldiers had themselves baptized, and through the King, the kingdom as an institution became Catholic. Celebrating this anniversary meant calling up a whole past, a glorious past of Christendom inspiring horror in the Revolution and its agents. For as far the Revolution is concerned, France only began when France lost its king, its religion and its God. Two hundred years of hard work to snatch Our Lord’s sceptre from him and to root up Christian society or whatever still remains of it, have still not been enough: such an anniversary seemed to them to re-awaken “old ghosts”, which explains the relatively violent reaction of the “Counter-Church” (for that is what it calls itself, as the Regional Congress of Masonry in eastern France proclaimed in 1911 - “Let us not forget that we are the Counter-Church”). Certainly the action of Freemasonry today is more discreet but it is no less efficacious than in the past. Having infiltrated the Catholic Church it carries on both inside and outside the Church its work of undermining and destroying our holy religion. To show we are not exaggerating, here are some news items from the countries of eastern Europe, showing Freemasonry in action as it uses Ecumenism as a lever to continue the work of demolition begun by communism. “The apostolic nuncios in all Greek and Russian Orthodox countries have received orders to force the religious institutions and institutions of consecrated life, diocese, Catholic movements, etc., to cease all active ministry. Principally concerned are the Society of Jesus, the Dominicans, the Franciscans and certain lay movements which have been especially active, mainly in Russia and the Ukraine. “As you surely know, the KGB had infiltrated certain sectors of the Russian hierarchy. This infiltration that the non-Russian Orthodox wanted to keep out of view in order not to hinder the work of reviving the Russian Orthodox Church, has now been publicly admitted by the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople. His intention was to justify the distrust of the Estonian Orthodox with regard to Moscow. Because of this distrust, and for reasons of faith, thousands of Orthodox Christians have gone over to the Eastern Catholic Church of the Ukraine. The Ukraine part of the Moscow Patriarchate is the most important part of the Moscow Patriarchate. But now the Orthodox Church in the Ukraine risks being dissolved since so many faithful, above all in the West of the country, are going over to the Catholic Church. Entire parishes, entire villages, have from one day to the next gone over to the Catholic Church. The faithful with their clergy, deacons, priests, monks, etc., were leaving the Orthodox Church in the evening and were to be found the following morning in the Catholic Church. “Such a situation tended to upset the bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate. Besides, Freemasonry has become particularly active since the “fall” of communism. Frightened by the possibility of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches uniting forces, Freemasonry is doing all it can to: 1) keep the two churches apart, 2) hold down the efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church and 3) neutralize the missionary forces of the Catholic Church in the Balkans and Baltic countries. “At present the Masonic forces have succeeded in exercising pressure on Moscow to get the Patriarch of Moscow to stop all active ministry in Russia and the Ukraine. Priests, bishops, religious can now look after only the “ethnic” Catholics. Hence none but Catholics of Polish or German origin may benefit from the activities of the Catholic Church. I can testify to the high number of vocations to the religious and priestly life in Russia and the Ukraine. Many of these vocations have begged me to help them to enter the Catholic Church. “Now the doors are shut. I am far from being a “fanatic” but I consider this to be the greatest scandal of the century. The Church of Christ is missionary by nature. If the Church ceases its missionary activity I would say it has lost its reason to exist. I am totally baffled! To be certain that my official information was accurate, I spoke with the Provincial of an important Order in Russia. He confirmed to me what I knew from elsewhere, namely, that “until relations between the Holy See and Moscow are better, the religious orders, Catholic dioceses, etc., in Russia and the Ukraine may do nothing.” This Provincial confided in me that he is not in agreement with the orders that he has just received, but he and the other Major Superiors have been threatened with being stripped of their office if they do not obey the formal order to cease all activity until further orders. “Moscow is presently making war on Rome because an “exarch” with archiepiscopal (administrative) rank for the city of Kiev was appointed. The moment he was appointed by Rome, this exarch was obliged to do nothing!” Here is another example, perhaps even more scandalous, demonstrating clearly how grave an evil ecumenism is: All the Catholic Melkite bishops except two have signed the following profession of faith (in August 1995): I - I believe everything that eastern Orthodoxy teaches. II - I am in communion with the Bishop of Rome within the limits recognized by the Holy Fathers of the East in the first millennium and, before the separation, to the first of the bishops. The bishops themselves consider that this profession has had as one of its effects the abolition of the “break with the Uniate Catholic Church” brought about within the Patriarchate of Antioch in 1724... In plain English that means that the Uniates have ceased to exist and that they have fallen back into the Orthodox Schism! What is more, they no longer recognize as dogmas the infallible decisions made by all the ecumenical councils from 1050 onwards, they only recognize them as simple theological opinions... Our sources state that these bishops were quietly invited by the Vatican itself to make this profession of faith! The scandal goes beyond all bounds. Rome itself is pushing Catholics into schism...! Such events, the relaxing of ecclesiastical discipline, the unbelievable and often sacrilegious aberrations in the liturgy are pushing priests, religious and nuns in ever greater numbers all over the world, and even as groups, to draw closer to the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X! Let us hope that this movement which is just beginning will grow stronger and will finally force the destroyers of the Church to reflect on what they are doing. Do they still have the Faith? When the Son of Man will come back, will he still find the Faith, is a question already Our Lord was asking when he spoke of the end of times (Luke XVIII, 6). Such upheavals require of us to apply suitable means to protect ourselves and to advance God’s cause; we turn towards Heaven and we find nothing better than what the good Lord offers us. Sister Lucy of Fatima relates the following words of the Blessed Virgin Mary during the Apparitions of 1971: “Jesus wishes to make use of you to make me known and loved. He wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. Whoever embraces this devotion, I promise them salvation, they will be souls beloved by God, like flowers placed by me around His throne.” From other texts we conclude that God has entrusted into the Blessed Virgin’s hands the peace of the entire world. We are sure this means inner peace of soul as well as outer peace from war... It seems also clear enough that the Pope’s consecrating of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary will have great consequences not only in politics but also in matters spiritual and religious. Russia will convert. For after the great feeling of relief in 1989, who today would still dare to pretend that Russia has converted? We must keep on praying to Heaven that the Mother of God’s desires be finally accomplished. As for ourselves, dear faithful, we desire to promote as far as it lies in our power this devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to the spirit and will of Our Lord himself. Following the example of His Excellency Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre , all the Society of Saint Pius X will make a pilgrimage to Fatima on August 22, 1997, in order to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the apparitions and to renew the expression of our good will. Let us take care to prepare ourselves for this event through the coming year by living more truly as children of our heavenly Mother, by reciting the rosary as a family, by offering sacrifices in a spirit of reparation. In this spirit why not follow Heaven’s invitation to perform the devotion of the five first Saturdays? Could we not also make or remake our personal consecration to the Blessed Virgin, according to the method of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort or any other method we may like better? The majesty of God is so offended! If we do not do penance we will all perish (Luke:13,3)! Our duty to do penance and to expiate our sins, both our own sins and those of our fellow-men, is a fundamental truth, the memory of which has virtually disappeared from the life and language of Christians. Certainly God wishes gently to remind us of this by establishing the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Let us pray for priests, let us pray a great deal for priests, for future priests. We entrust to you the new seminarians that entered this autumn; 27, including 5 Lebanese, in Flavigny, 12 in Zaitskofen and 9 in the United States, to whom we must add 9 young men from the East who have entered our “pre-seminary” in Jaidhof in Austria, and some postulant Brothers. In order to associate families more closely with the task of sanctifying our priests we have launched an apostolate to which we are particularly attached: the Homes of Christ the Priest; families which wish to consecrate themselves to Our Lord as Priest. These families offer all their life, efforts, sufferings and joys for the sanctification of priests. You may apply to our District Superiors for more information on this magnificent apostolate. Clearly God continues to bless the Society of Saint Pius X, and you, dear benefactors, are his fortunate instruments in this. May Our Lord and Our Lady give it back to you one hundred-fold in graces and blessings which springs up to eternity. + Bernard Fellay, Superior General, on the Feast of Christ the King 1996 |