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Newsletter of the District of Asia September-October 2000 Editorial O Lord! grant us priests!! O Lord! grant us many religious vocations!!
The Superior of the SSPX gives his Blessing in the Pope's Cathedral! As we journey throughout the populous countries of Asia, wide regions entrusted to our weak hands, the most common requests that people have for us, the priests of the Society of St Pius X, is: “Father, can we have more Masses?” Those who are blessed to have the grace of the traditional Mass every month would like to have it every Sunday, or at least twice a month ; and those who are fortunate to have it every Sunday, would like to have it every day…! - Yes, the harvest is great and the laborers very, very few. But obtaining, maintaining, and defending the Holy Traditional Mass is not all. Very soon, since the Holy Traditional Mass is fruitful by nature, children start to fill the chapel, and then the question of schooling arises. “Father, can we have a school for our children?” A school is huge undertaking. It requires firstly convinced parents worried for their children’s souls, then a good teacher, then funds, then so many other things. But with the grace of God, the Society is opening schools every year to satisfy the earnest desire of concerned parents. It can be done. “All things are possible to him that believeth!” (Mk 9,22) Thank God, there are still parents to be found who have the faith that moves mountains — mountains of obstacles for the salvation of their children. With the Holy Mass, with their children in a traditional school nearby or away in a good boarding school, many parents have thought their duty was accomplished, the Christian future of their children assured! Well, not so fast… Now with Traditional Mass centers 10, 20 years old or more, another problem is becoming not just worrying, -but alarming. There appears in many, many places, among many traditional Catholic families a certain laxity, a certain inconstancy, a certain permissiveness among the youth (say 15 years old and up). We notice youths, who do not seem to have the will to take the flame, to stand up for the principles of our Holy Faith. The fruits under our eyes are without proportion to the sacrifices of parents and educators. How is it that there are still so few vocations in our ranks? How is it that traditional Catholic families with 5, 10, even 15 children have not a single vocation? St. John Bosco estimated that there should be one vocation out of every 3 or 4 children, per good family! How far are we from that percentage! Last June, at the ordination ceremonies in Winona, USA, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais publicly wondered—no, lamented— that after a quarter of a century that seminary had only two deacons to present to the ordination to the sacred Priesthood? In our young men and women between the age of 18 to 30, we notice a great ignorance of the crisis of society and of the Church, an ignorance which is not because they have not been taught, but because of a lack of interest. This is a typical example of the capital sin of sloth: a spiritual lethargy, a lack of desire to study, to learn by themselves. This is made worst if the young man or woman never had to survey or defend his position. Very soon, the contacts with the world weaken his will and encourage compromises. And many fall. Many of our parents lament that their children do not follow them in the practice of their faith. The world makes us feel guilty to be different, to be apart, or to uphold principles of thought, or of dress-code, which are seemingly outdated, and which nobody else follows… And our youth becomes embarrassed, scared even, to stand apart and be counted. Why? They are lacking personal conviction, their faith is weak, they are not proud enough to be known as a Catholic, and moreover as a Traditional Catholic : “My friends will laugh at me!” St. Peter had that same problem long ago with his first Christians, some of which were also shy or scared: “If you be reproached for the name of Christ, you shall be blessed! Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or a railer or a coveter or other men’s things. But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name!” (I Pet. 4, 14-16) Youth can be enthusiastic for a doctrine, for ideas, for a strong wisdom, a mission! Ideals, absolutes, and principles attracts their soul a thirst for grandeur, for the sublime. On the contrary, what do we see? Few vocations, in spite of a growing and expanding Tradition. Among the young men, we notice an easy-going attitude, a lack of character, a lack of will. The training of that will—the last barrier to the world, the flesh and the devil—should begin in infancy and be refined in adolescence to prepare him for his place in society, but the training is often too superficial. Purity is a continual combat; it requires an interior will to fight, a spiritual force that comes only with interest, concern, and application. Young men have also lost the sense of responsibility, of generosity, of organization. How will they be good fathers of families, if at 20 years old they cannot—will not— take responsibilities? They are not ready. How many are scared of the calling of God, afraid of the effort, of the challenge. “Son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and fear and prepare thy soul for temptation.” (Ecclus 2,1) They are not ready. But without leaders, disorder sets in. It was Adam’s sin to have shrunk from his responsibility of telling Eve she was wrong. He gave in, and death followed, the death of mankind. To go to school and to enjoy themselves seems to be the only concern of many of our young men. They forget that we are living in a terrible crisis of society, of the Church, and they must protect themselves from assimilating the spirit of the world; or else what will they be tomorrow? What will our families be tomorrow with weak fathers? Among the young girls, there is disorder too. Long studies draw them away from humble family chores, give a spirit of independence and provide an ability to earn for themselves. To become simple housewives seems degrading compared to what is available out there. But that is their mission, their salvation: “Yet she shall be saved through child bearing…” (I Tim 2, 15). “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”. A dress is highly significant: to dress with taste, with the sense of harmony, of modesty, is the reflection of interior virtues, that is “to be”. To dress in a mini-skirt, in pants, is to want “to appear”, to be in style, in fashion, and seek one’s own will. There is a liberation of the education received —that is if the parents gave it. The spirit of independence opens the door to all other disorders. The real ones responsible are mothers who give in to their children whims. Listen to Pope Pius XII speaking to Catholic Mothers: “Frequently, a man’s destiny, the ruin of his character, or the threat of grave danger, may be traced to his childhood years when his heart was spoiled by the fond flattery, imprudent fussing and foolish indulgence of misguided parents. They accustomed that impressionable little heart to see all things revolve and gravitate around it, to find all things yielding to its will and caprice, and thus they sowed in it the roots of a boundless egoism of which the parents themselves were later to become the first victims.” (Allocution, Oct. 26, 1941) We have no right to form a lukewarm youth! We need a strong youth, virtuous, worthy of admiration, which knows how to enjoy properly a good time, and at the same time, ready to fight, like a St. Maria Goretti or a St. Dominic Savio, at a moment’s notice. Let us be truly aware of this problem. Let no parent quit in this art of education. As long as our traditional Catholic young men and young ladies are not gentlemen and ladies worthy of the name, the responsibility of parents is not finished. Let me end by announcing that a third Filipino young man, Aurelito Cacho, from Bohol, in the central islands of The Philippines, will be ordained a priest this coming December 17, in our seminary in Argentina. He will be the third priestly fruit of our Mission in The Philippines since 1992. But how many more we could use in this vast continent with half the world’s population! Allow me to close with a famous quote: “… Many fail to become Christians in these regions because they have no one who is concerned with such pious and holy matters. Many times I am seized with the thought of going to the schools in your lands and of crying out there, like a man who has lost his mind, and especially at the University of Paris, telling those in the Sorbonne who have a greater regard for learning than desire to prepare themselves to produce fruit with it. How many souls fail to go to glory and go instead to hell through their neglect! And thus, as they make progress in their studies, if they would study the accounting which God our Lord will demand of them and of the talent which has been given to them, many of them would be greatly moved and, taking the means and making spiritual exercises to know the will of God within their soul, they would say, conforming themselves to it rather than to their own inclinations: ‘Lord, here I am! What would you have me do? Send me wherever you will, and if need be, even to the Indies!’ With how much greater consolation would they then live! And they would have great hope in the Divine Mercy at the hour of their death, when they will encounter that particular judgment which no man can escape and will say on their own behalf: ‘Lord, you gave me five talents. Behold, here are another five that I have gained with them!’ ” (St Francis Xavier, Letter 20. To his Companions in Rome, Cochin, January 15, 1544)
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