February 1989 Print


Letters to the Editor

 


Your comments and suggestions are welcomed by the Editor. If you can, please keep your comments brief. Write to: The Editor, The Angelus Press, Box 1387, Dickinson, TX 77539.
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Dear Fr. Cooper:

First, let me congratulate you on your fine magazine and all the good work the Society of St. Pius X is doing. Everything and everybody seems to be coming down hard on you, so you must be doing something right!

My sister, myself and other chapel members here in Memphis must also fit into that category. Judging by the letters I've received, and especially a scathing one form our bishop, you would think we are of the devil. We Traditionalists have no outlet to be heard, except through our local paper, but they'll only print so much. The Bishop realizes this and feels smug that our letters to each other will go no further. These modernists are so afraid of the Truth.

The Bishop wrote me and said he wouldn't allow the Tridentine Mass because of our association with Archbishop Lefebvre; that's a cop-out. Now when the CUF members approach him about having the Latin Mass, he can put the blame on us! Can you believe that we are a group of about 40 to 50 people in our chapel and there are 50,000 Catholics in this diocese and we are making an impact? Deo gratias.

—Mrs. L.E. (Memphis, TN)


Keep up the fight L.E.! Gedeon had only 300 men, but by the help of God, he conquered tens of thousands Madianites. (Judges VII) If like Gedeon's 300 we are living good and upright lives, we also, though so small in number, shall make an impact in the world and in the church.

 

Dear Fr. Cooper:

Young Catholics who read The Angelus may be interested to know of an organization in the Washington/Baltimore area designed to promote traditional Catholic faith and liturgy. Founded in September 1987, Charis/Young Catholics for Tradition, is now entering its second year of providing spiritual, intellectual and social activities for Catholic young people in the Washington/Baltimore area.

Charis members respect and venerate the traditional liturgical rites of the Church which find their expression in the immemorial Tridentine Latin Mass as well as the Eastern Rite liturgies. The club sponsors lectures throughout the year to provide discussion on important Catholic topics for its members and the community at large. In August 1988 Charis played host to British author and apologist Michael Davies and our speakers for the upcoming year will include several other distinguished speakers and commentators.

For more information, please contact:

Charis/Young Catholics for Tradition
P.O. Box 434
Vienna, VA 22183
(703) 893-9832

—D.A. (Vienna, VA)


Thanks for your letter. I've got a good question for you, D.A.,... what in the world does "charis" mean?

 

To the Editor:

In the December Issue was a very interesting article on the Bishop of South Africa, Bishop Hurley ("An interview from South Africa").

Bishop Denis Hurley has been sending me missionary letters for several years, and when I read the book on Vatican II by Xavier Rhynne, I noticed a Bishop Hurley who was mentioned as one of the liberals, pushing for all these liberated planks.

I had written him a letter last year, to feel out whether he was the one mentioned so often. Enclosed is a letter he answered me with... you can see that he is in favor of religious liberty and freedom of conscience, just as our Bishop from Dubuque, Iowa.

Our Bishop has said over the T.V. news:

"We will respect all opinions and ideas in the Diocese of Dubuque." And this is what he's doing. Nuns have Hindu priestesses teaching them meditation, sitting on the floor with lotus blossoms. The Renew Program is in full swing.

We can all see that the Pope also has this liberated teaching or he'd soon replace them for the sake of the Church.

Is it wrong for God to discriminate against the devil and the bad angels? Then why wrong for me?

(As a post script:) Notice that all those who claim they do not force us to go against our conscience are those who... force us to:

1. hire homosexual teachers for our children,
2. force us to associate with people who are deviates and criminals
3. force us to accept equal rights
4. force us to accept devil worship on a par with God's worship

5. force us to give up the death penalty

—M. D. (Oelwein, IA)


Hindu priestesses teaching nuns how to meditate? On what? Sacred cows?

 

To the Editor:

...(In the New Mass), if the reverence, adoration, and worship due to Almighty God is diminished, or as it seems today, deliberately taken away... then whoever is responsible, or takes part, mindfully or mindlessly, is helping Satan and his henchmen in the destruction of souls and of the Holy Mass.

How can the Holy Spirit be credited with such weakness and wavering as to have inspired the dismemberment of the reverence and worship due to God as we see by the conduct in His house of (supposed) worship? What authority has anyone to diminish the first commandment of God? In conclusion, let us recall Lincoln's famous maxim, "You may fool some of the people all the time, or all the people some of the time"—But you'll never fool Almighty God!

—(M. Coughlan, Dublin, Ireland)

 

When told that Cardinal Ratzinger wept over the breakdown of last year's negotiations between Rome and the Society, an old English lady, thoroughly familiar with Alice in Wonderland, was not convinced. "Walrus tears", she said.

No doubt this is the first time that Angelus readers will have seen or heard of Archbishop Lefebvre being compared to an old oyster, but let them read (or re-read) this excerpt of Lewis Carroll's poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter", from his famous Alice through the Looking-Glass, and let them judge for themselves!

    "O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech
    "A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
    We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each. "

   The eldest Oyster looked at him.
But never a word he said;
   The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head—
   Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the Oyster-bed.

   But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for a treat:
   Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
   Their shoes were clean and neat—
And this was odd, because, you know,
   They hadn't any feet.

   Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
   And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more—
   All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

   The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
   And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
   And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

   "The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
    Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax—
  Of cabbages—and kings—
    And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

   "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
    For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
    "No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

   "A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
   Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—
   Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

   "But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue,
   "After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
   "The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

   "It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
    The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
    I wish you were not quite so deaf—
I've had to ask you twice!"

   "It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
   After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
    The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

   "I weep for you," the Walrus said,
"I deeply sympathize."
   With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
    Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

   "O Oysters," said the Carpenter.
"You've had a pleasant run!
   Shall we be trotting home again?"
But answer came there none—
    And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one!

 

 

 

The Future Cathedral of Évry, France
model of a cylindrical cathedral

This is a model of the future cathedral of Évry the first cathedral built in France in the 20th century. The project is due to the architect Mario Botta and will be financed by the Chantiers of the cardinal and a large national fundraiser. The new diocese of Corbeil-Évry, founded in 1966 has been without a cathedral. The bishop Corbeil-Évry, Mgr. Guy Herbulot, has declared that the new cathedral will have 1,000 seats. "We want a church fitted to the forms of actual expression and modern sensibilities".

 

 

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