Newsletter of the District
of Asia
April
- May 1998
Superior
General Letter #54
to Friends and Benefactors
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 bishop"
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 torn apart; a special effort
is being made to tear out its soul, its spiritual treasure, that
which distinguishes it from all other religions and all 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 the 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 "tablemeal-shows". The
cardinals and bishops themselves could do nothing, they said. It
is the Catholic laity that must act to save the Church... The Dutch
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, give up the 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 life 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 Ecône 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 Seminary of Our Lady
Co-redemptrix in the Argentine 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, church, 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 |
|