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Newsletter of the District of Asia March 1997 Letter From Fr. Couture Dear Friends and Benefactors, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (Heb. XI,6) It is not surprising therefore to see hell attempting to dismantle this divine gift from every possible angle. Especially as the devil knows his time is short. Faith is one of the theological virtues. By it we cling to the truths revealed by God and proposed by the Church. Many truths cannot fully be understood, we believe in them by reason of the God who revealed them to us. God cannot deceive nor be deceived. Whatever He says, goes. Our minds bow to this revealed truth, to this Divine Authority revealing it. Now in the very recent months, we have seen here in Asia and alas, also in Rome, again, Churchmen who have forgotten the very simple definition of the supernatural virtue of Faith given above. In Sri Lanka, for instance, Fr. Balasuriya hit at the very nature of Faith by rejecting any truth which exceeds human reason. For him, faith is to believe in what makes sense, in what fits our human reason. Human reason becomes the rule of faith. Therefore, faith is no longer supernatural, but simply natural. I no longer believe because of God’s authority, I believe because I think this makes sense to me and is reasonable. That error, very common today, is called: rationalism. Man becomes the judge of God’s truth, man sets his throne above God. In India, last October, a petition signed by more than one dozen of the country’s Bishops and Archbishops was asking Rome to declare solemnly that Our Lord Jesus Christ is no longer the only Saviour! These bishops must have forgotten the clear words of our first Pope: “There is no other name under heaven whereby we ought to be saved”, than the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 4, 12). In Rome, this time, last December, a symposium was held to discuss the question of the “Primacy of the Sovereign Pontiff.” The Pope himself acknowledges that his papacy is one of the fundamental stumbling block for ecumenism. And what does he do? He is seeking new ways of exercising his Primacy which will be acceptable to non-Catholics! Papacy has frequently been a target of the enemies of the Church throughout the centuries. They know too well that “ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia” - where Peter is, there is the Church.” They are at it again. However, let us be reassured: “The gates of hell will not prevail.” Dear faithful, keep the faith! Know your faith, as it has been passed on to you. Study it. Read traditional books about it. If you don’t read, soon or late you will betray, being led astray in ignorance. Now, some more positive news from Asia. Our priests in Sri Lanka have bought a piece of land on which they will start a school. The apostolate in that country will concentrate on the children as liberalism and modernism have completely pervaded the minds of the adults. Our readers may have heard of a certain priest, Fr. Tissa Balasuriya, O.M.I. mentioned above who has recently been excommunicated by Rome. He unfortunately has found many supporters among the clergy and the religious. Denying original sin and the Immaculate Conception, one wonders how such a priest, ordained 51 years can still belong to the Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate! As announced in our last Newsletter, an important ceremony was held on February in Bassein, near Bombay, in India. His Lordship Bishop Lazo graciously accepted our invitation to attend this event. It turn out to be quite a success: around 1,000 people came from all parts of India including two diocesan priests (one of whom did a 24h one way journey by train to come). The ceremonies, in honour of St. Gonsalvo Garcia, the first Indian Saint, martyred in Nagazaki 400 years ago (Feb. 5, 1597) were held in the old XVIth century Portuguese fort visited by St. Francis Xavier, and the Holy Mass, in the Jesuit Church in which St. Gonsalvo served as an altar boy. Fr. Onoda, our Japanese priest came all the way from Korea to speak of the Martyrs of Nagazaki. All in all, it gave a great boost to our Indian Traditional Catholics. Please God, such seeds will bring forth fruit one hundredfold. Here in Manila, we are in the last stage of the preparations before the consecration of our church on March 1st instant, by His Lordship Bishop Bernard Fellay, our Superior General. The M.C. for the ceremony will be, D.V., who else than Fr. Paul Morgan, the first superior of the Philippines who build this beautiful church. Please unite with us by your prayers on that solemn day.
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