May 2000 Print


The Warrior's Life (P. 2)

 

Page 2

PARISH PRIEST

In 1967, Rev. Fr. Miguel Purugganan finished his studies in the Gregorian University in Rome. Bishop Domingo removed me from the office of Rector. Upon his arrival Fr. Purugganan took over the responsibility of the San Jacinto Minor Seminary. Bishop Domingo assigned me as Parish Priest of Lal-lo Cagayan. In 1967 the Lal-lo High School was crowded with students. This made me conceive the idea of a secondary school. After studying the project, I decided to submit my application to the Department of Education for the Lyceum of Lal-lo. The Department of Education approved my application. In 1968-69 the Lyceum of Lal-lo started to operate.

In 1969, the Novus Ordo Missae came to the Diocese of Tuguegarao for implementation. We were told to change the Tridentine Latin Mass of St. Pius V. We wanted to know why and there was no explanation given. Since we wanted to show our customary obedience to our ecclesiastical superiors the order was implemented. "Roma Locuta, Causa Finita—Rome has spoken, the issue is settled." We little thought that our submissiveness was being taken advantage of. The Latin Mass instituted by Jesus Christ was altered to a concoction of Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, a Freemason. The innovators gave us a counterfeit of the Latin Mass which is the Bugnini Mass. The maneuvers of the Masonic manipulators made us feel bitter the moment the deception was unmasked. The reformers gave us poison instead of nourishing spiritual food.

Following the responsory, Libera me, Domine—Free me, O Lord, from eternal death, Bishop Fellay administers the first of the five absolutions required for a deceased bishop. The ordinary faithful receive only one.

 

BISHOP

In 1969, during my second year as parish priest of Lal-lo, I was preconized Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Tuguegarao. Bishop Domingo was not in the diocese then. He was in the United States visiting his brother, but was present for the episcopal ordination, which was presided over by the Nuncio, the Most Rev. Carmine Rocco, D.D. After my consecration, I continued saying the Novus Ordo Missae. My brother Jose, then a missionary priest of the Society of the Divine Word, attended my episcopal consecration on February 3, 1970. But on April 25, he went home to God. As a newly consecrated bishop I attended his burial Mass in Christ the Mission Church. He was buried in the cemetery of the Society of the Divine Word in New Manila.

In Vigan, there was a newly consecrated bishop, the Most Rev. Antonio Buenafe designated Auxiliary Bishop of Nueva Segovia. His term, however, did not last long. A few days after his consecration he boarded a bus, Times Transit, for Manila. There was a quarrel among the passengers and the new bishop was shot by accident in the cross fire. The gunshot was fatal. My superiors assigned me to take his place. Installation ceremonies in St. Paul's Cathedral were presided over by the Nuncio, Most Rev. Bruno Torpigliani, D.D., on August 1977. My stay in the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia was only three years. Towards the end of this appointment, I was sent to go to the Diocese of San Fernando of La Union because Bishop Victorino C. Ligot was very seriously sick in Cardinal Santos Medical Center in Metro Manila. Hearing this, I rushed to his bedside. He could no longer speak as he was in a coma. Bishop Ligot finally died on September 18, 1980.

After the funeral Mass, Archbishop Bruno Torpigliani, D.D., the Nuncio, made me the administrator of the Diocese of San Fernando, La Union and a few months later, I became its second residential bishop. The Catholic leaders convened to decide on the date for my installation as the second ordinary of the diocese of San Fernando, La Union, Philippines. The installation was done in the context of the Novus Ordo Missae on March 9, 1981. I continued saying this New Rite until I reached the age of retirement.

A few days after the celebrations, I went to the diocesan Curia. It was not a building separate from the Cathedral. It was in the southern most part of the Cathedral Rectory. Fr. Laxamana, the secretary, welcomed me and then showed me around. In front of the Curia offices, there is a three-story building just finished through the efforts of the late Bishop Victorino Ligot. The Philtrust Bank was renting the ground floor. The third floor was occupied by the i nsurance companies. The second floor was reserved for Diocesan Minor Seminary—the Heart of Jesus Minor Seminary—which was operated by the diocesan priests. My second official visit was directed to the parishes and the diocesan schools. My overall impression was that Bishop Ligot served well the Diocese. I decided to build on his accomplishments.

My general evaluation suggested that I first tackle the seminary problem. The seminarians should have a separate building and lot. Consequently, I took steps to look for a location where the seminary building could be constructed. Then applications for funding were made. In a year, positive response was received from funding agencies abroad. With this money, four hectares [about 10 acres] of land was bought in San Vicente, San Fernando, La Union, a barrio near the sea. The cornerstone of the administration building was blessed. And before long, the chapel and the dormitory followed. Other buildings came later: the residence of the bishop, convents for two communities of sisters, and finally the St. Joseph Pastoral Center.

After having familiarized myself with the Curia set-up, I turned my attention to the programs for the gatherings of the priests, that is, the Recollections and Pastoral Assemblies. In the study of the finances, funds were allocated for the sick priests and for the material and spiritual welfare of the priests for the diocese.

In the Diocese the following apostolates received encouragements:


The Catechetical Instructions for all the public schools given to the care of the "Pastorelle Sisters" (Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd).
The Diocesan Schools (under the care of the Bishop, through the Diocesan Superintendent who was
directly responsible to the Bishop). St. Louis College is owned by CICM Missionaries (Congregation of
the Immaculate Heart of Mary).

•The Biblical Apostolate.
The Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in some Parish Churches and Chapels of Religious
Sisters.
The Holy Name Society (for men).
Family Rosary (under the flagship of the Blue Army).
Apostleship of Prayer.
Social Action for the poor through the Catholic Relief Services.
Knights of Columbus.
Children of Mary. 

In March 1990, a very big earthquake shook the Island of Luzon. The epicenter was only 31 miles from the southern border of the Diocese of La Union. It had the strength of 7.8 on the Richter Scale. The damage was very great and extensive: eight parish churches, five school buildings, and five rectories were partly or totally destroyed. Appeals were made to the funding agencies in Germany. Through the funds received, part of the damages were restored, but much of the damage of the destructive tremor was never rehabilitated.

Closing the absolutions, His Excellency says the prayer: "O God, who alone are ever merciful and sparing of punishment, humbly we pray Thee in behalf of the soul of Thy servant, Salvador, whom Thou hast commanded to go forth today from this world. Do not hand him over to the power of the enemy and do not forget him forever; but command that his soul be taken up by the holy Angels and brought home merciful and sparing of to paradise, so that, since he hoped and believed in Thee, he may not undergo the punishments of hell, but rather possess everlasting joys. Through Christ our Lord."

 

"The words they say every day at the altar, 'This is my Body, this is my Blood,' grant them to apply to themselves, 'I am no longer myself, I am Jesus, Jesus crucified. I am, like the bread and wine, a substance no longer itself but by consecration another...'"

 

BISHOP EMERITUS

In 1992, my only sister Teresa retired from her teaching job as a college dean in Zamboanga City. She was also sick, so she went to her doctor at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Manila. Her physician diagnosed that her cancer was in an advanced stage. I wanted a second opinion so I advised her to go to the Philippine General Hospital, Manila. Doctors in the Philippine General Hospital confirmed the University of Santo Tomas Hospital diagnosis. She was living with us in Project 4, Quezon City. I decided that she should go home to Zamboanga City where her in-laws were residing so that they could help her and her only daughter Emily in case she was going to die. If she were going to die she could be buried beside Andres, her husband, who went home to God many years ago. She passed away on December 21, 1996. God rest her soul.

In my 13th year as bishop of the Diocese, I reached retirement age. By Canon Law I was supposed to retire. I informed the nunciature and requested a replacement. Soon enough the Most Rev. Antonio Tobias, Bishop of Pagadian Diocese in Mindanao, was announced as my successor. The new nuncio was invited by Bishop Tobias for the installment. The Most Rev. Gian Vincenzo Moreni, D.D., came to grace the occasion. As soon as the banquet was over I said goodbye to His Excellency Bishop Tobias. I left the Diocese of San Fernando, La Union, to go on my own for good. That was on July 16, 1993.

There were invitations that I should stay in the diocese on account of my advanced age. An emerging community of Sisters reminded me: "You are getting old. Stay with us, we will take care of you." Well, I thanked them for their overtures. But there seemed to be a strong beckoning to leave San Fernando Diocese of La Union. I knew there were only few prospects for me outside the Diocese but somehow I heeded the call of city life. I lived with my sister, Teresa, who also had retired from the dean's office of a college in Zamboanga City. Pooling our modest resources together we constructed a humble residence and there we lived.

 

THE DECISIVE VISIT

The place chosen for the building of our humble residence was not far from the Priory of the Society of Saint Pius X. One night Mr. Antonio Malaya, Jr., and four catechists of the priory paid me a visit. The four catechists were loaded with books. After the initial pleasantries, I put a question to my visitors: "May I know why are you visiting me"? They replied: "We want to know you." I was happy at the reply. Mr. Malaya extended his hands and said: "Glad to know you." The catechists were Jade Liboro, Agnes Mendoza, Mitzie Noche, Johanna Tabuena; they too held out their hands.

In less than an hour of a lively conversation they announced that they wanted to leave. On hearing this, one of the catechists inquired: "Can we leave these books with you?" I was happy at the suggestion and my rejoinder was: "I'll be happy if you do so." Leaving the books on the chairs my visitors stood up and bade goodbye. I was happy they left the books. I like to read. In fact, one of the things I missed as a bishop was reading for pleasure. Also, I was eager to update myself. As a bishop I had plenty to read. I read the hand-outs from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) so that I could submit credible reports.

What was so puzzling to me way the fact that here was an international conference of 2200 Catholic bishops and there were no bulletins nor flyers to give us an idea of what was happening in Vatican II. It seemed that we were deliberately left in the dark. Was this an act of the premeditated strategy? Well, I didn't know.

 

BOOKS WHICH "CONVERTED" A BISHOP

So when my visitors were gone I scanned the titles of the books. To my joy they were the ones I wanted so much to read. Some of these titles:

The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation, Rev. Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp.
Supernatural Life, Collection of Essays
AA-1025, The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle, Marie Carre (TAN Books & Publishers).
Freemasonry and the Vatican, Visconte Leon de Poncins.
• Papal Encyclicals:
Humanum Genus, Pope Leo XIII
Pascendi Gregis, Pope St Pius X
Mortalium Animos, Pope Pius XI (Angelus Press).
Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII
Pope John's Council, Michael Davies (Angelus Press).

Reading these books gave me a better idea of the crisis and confusion in the Church today. It became clear to me who are the real enemies of the Catholic Church. Fr. Denis Fahey pinpointed them when he wrote: "The enemies of the Catholic Church are three. One invisible, Satan, and two visible: a) Talmudic Judaism, and b) Freemasonry."

"That Judaism is the visible chief enemy of the Catholic Church is evident from Church history, from words and deeds of individuals and groups, and from the teachings of the Talmud of which the Kabalah constitute the basis of Judaism... The third visible enemy of the Catholic Church is Freemasonry. Many Christians are reluctant to say anything about the power and control of Judeo-Masonry, about its exercise in government, Church, and society, for fear of offending Jewish Masonic friends and neighbors. Many Masons are Christians who are ordinary good, patriotic citizens who joined the Lodge for fraternal book [sic] and social reasons. They are not privy to the secret machinations of the upper echelons of Freemasonry... The first duty of any Mason is to obey the mandate of the Master (not Christ but rather the Master of the Lodge)...." [From the dust-jacket of The Kingship of Christ and the Conversion of the Jewish Nation.]

One of the books that surprised me was AA-1025: The Memoirs of an Anti-Apostle, by Marie Carré. These memoirs of an anti-apostle were about a communist who purposely entered the seminary for the Catholic priesthood with the intent to subvert and destroy the Church from within. This exposed the plan of the Masons to send and finance bright boys to the seminary to study for the Catholic priesthood. The project was started more than a hundred years before Vatican II was convened. Some of these priests were already bishops when Vatican II started and ready for the Council.

Another book that was very enlightening was Conspiracy Against Life. The jacket makes this advertisement:

"In an all-out expose, this book shows how the United Nations is used as killing machine of these conspirators [the Freemasons] to destroy the Roman Catholic Church and society. It reveals how they dominate the world by controlling all religions and politicians. Politics are manipulated by centralizing banking, trade and the military. Global religion is syncretized by ranking Jesus at the same rank as Allah, Vishnu, Buddha, and other ancient religious leaders. They proclaim the fallen Angel, Lucifer, the highest of all gods from whom Freemasons receive power, inspiration and knowledge. Their mission is to build a kingdom of material property, one world government–­a new world order, under Satan's reign."

This is what I saw on the jackets of the books I received and read. I found them very alarming. And I thought I should reveal them to my friends no matter how frightening were the programs of the enemies of society and God.

It had been always a puzzle to me that, in spite of the condemnation of Freemasonry by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical Humanum Genus and by 13 other popes, as well, starting with Pope Clement XII in 1738, there were Freemasons in the higher authorities of the Church. The magazine SISINONO related an instance when a Nuncio had become a Mason, and not long afterwards was given the "red hat." What about the loyalties of these ecclesiastical Masons? Reading the books disturbed me greatly as I was still then saying the Novus Ordo Missae. To clear my doubts I read on. After more than a year of searching for the truth, I began to make a decision—I had to return to the Tradition of the Catholic Church and, along with that, to the Tridentine Latin Mass.

 

COUNTER-ATTACK
OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS' CONFERENCE OF THE PHILIPPINES

While in this state of mind, once I came home from a visit at the priory of the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X, in Quezon City, I was surprised that a visitor from Cardinal Sin, our Metropolitan Primate, was waiting me. We greeted each other almost simultaneously: "Good morning, Fr. Pascual." "Why this visit?" I inquired; "I would like to go to confession," he replied, and went on talking. "Monsignor, stop going to the priory because you are scandalizing Catholics by your bad example." "Why do I scandalize Catholics?" I wanted to know. And Fr. Pascual explained: "Do you not know that there is an advisory from the Cardinal prohibiting the faithful to attend Mass of the priests of the priory. Besides, the priests are the sons of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who was excommunicated because he was a schismatic." I tried to tell him that the episcopal consecration of the four bishops without papal mandate alone did not make Archbishop Lefebvre schismatic. There are world-renowned canonists who corroborate the opinion of Archbishop Lefebvre. The canonists are Valdini, Lara, Capponi, and Guringer. They argued that there was a necessity and, besides, Archbishop Lefebvre did not establish a parallel Church. When I stopped talking, Fr. Pascual reminded me of his confession and then left as soon as he got his absolution.

Archbishop Diosdado Talamayan made his appeal to me in a letter [see in this issue of The Angelus] mentioning a possible subsidy in case I listened to his advice to obey the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. The Archbishop harped on obedience to His Holiness. My response was that obedience must serve faith. Another former colleague of mine, Archbishop Gordoncillo, to whom I was corresponding regarding my re-conversion to Catholic Tradition, also sent me a word of warning

My perception is that post-Conciliar reforms were Masonicly inspired, aimed at destroying the Catholic Religion. I don't want to cooperate in the diabolical extirpation of the Catholic Religion founded by Jesus Christ for the eternal salvation of immortal souls, not for their eternal damnation. Obedience to the Pope is not a problem to me. I only want that the Pope fulfill all his duties as mandated by Jesus Christ; that he really save immortal souls for whom our Lord died on the cross on Mt. Calvary. I love the Pope. That is why I pray daily for him that he will be faithful to the will of Jesus Christ whose Vicar he is. He must guard faithfully the deposit of faith and interpret it as it was done by the faithful popes until Vatican Council II. That means no new theologies, no novelties. Only doctrines from the Deposit of Faith should be explained and interpreted as Jesus Christ mandated. In other words, my critics always remind me of the words: "Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia." The "Petrus" is the Pope and he has the duty to be faithful to Jesus Christ whose Vicar he is. It means that if the "Petrus" changes that which Christ handed down to us through the apostles, the Pope loses the moral right to expect from us our obedience. Our fidelity to the Pope is dependent upon his fidelity to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Pope's loyalty to the Deposit of Faith defines my loyalty to the Vicar of Christ.

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