April 2001 Print

 

AN OVERVIEW OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN FOUR POINTS

An address of Fr. Franz Schmidberger,
First Assistant to the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X,
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Kansas City, Missouri, February 22, 2001.

Dear Reverend Fathers, dear friends, it is a profound joy for me to be once again among you here in Kansas City and to be able tonight to speak to you. I will talk specifically about four points. The first point will be to review a little bit the status of Rome itself. In the second point I will discuss the work of the Society and especially the work of particular communities linked to us in friendship. The third point will be to speak to you quite at length about the current relations between Rome and the Society of Saint Pius X, and then, in a very short fourth point, I would like to give you some recommendations and counsels.

 

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ROME?

Let us immediately go to the first point, the things happening in Rome itself. Let me just have a look back on the Jubilee Year and some very important events which took place.

The first event which is to be mentioned took place January 25th in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, where the Pope opened the Holy Door. For the first time in the whole history of the Church, the Holy Father did not open the Holy Door alone. He invited the head of the Anglicans and the Orthodox Patriarch to participate with him in this opening of the Holy Door. Now, you understand that the Holy Door is a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that to open this Door means to open the way of salvation. By this action, the Pope wanted to give a demonstration of what the Second Vatican Council meant by saying that the other denominations are not without significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. This is why he desired the Anglicans and the Orthodox to participate in this opening of the Holy Door.

On the 12th of March, then, we heard the Pope apologize for a lot of very glorious things the Church has done in her history of 2000 years. Every Catholic heart ought to be filled with pain and sorrow to see such blame charged to our beloved Mother, the Catholic Church.

On May 7th, the Pope celebrated, together with representatives of other Christian denominations, the "common martyrs" of Christendom. Now, let me ask an important question: Can there be martyrs outside of the Catholic Church? – Well, we agree that people outside of the visible framework of the Catholic Church can be in the state of grace by baptism of desire. If they are in an invincible error, they do not know better; if they regret their sins and adore God as much as they can, giving praise, then they could be saved. But who knows about their interior disposition? Who knows if they are in an invincible error or not? – Only God, who sees the true state of their heart. We do not know. We only can judge according to the exterior appearance; and, according to the social exterior appearance, these people are not in the frame of the Church. And so it might be that they are saved, but we cannot celebrate them as martyrs; it is absolutely impossible! So, this is a new attack on the dogma, "Outside the Church there is no salvation," understood in the sense that the Church has always understood it.

In July, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, who had become the head in May 2000 of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in charge of taking care of those traditional-minded Catholics who were not linked or are not linked with the Society of Saint Pius X, addressed the General Chapter of the Fraternity of St. Peter soon after his appointment. It is true that at this time things in the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter were in a very bad state. There was complete division amongst its adherents and there seemed no hope of reconciliation between the different factions. As part of a solution, Cardinal Hoyos imposed, without an election, a new Superior General, Fr. Arnaud Devillers, then serving as District Superior of this Fraternity in the US. Two things, my dear friends, are very strange in the Cardinal's letter making Fr. Devillers' appointment official.

The first thing is that he strictly followed the advice of a priest [Fr. Denis le Pivain – Ed.] of this Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter who had fomented a whole revolution in the womb of this ecclesiastical community, a whole revolution. In May, just after Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos had taken over his office, this priest had written him a letter saying that things could not continue like this, that they have to make very important changes, that the General Chapter would be very important, and making him concrete proposals, for example, to install Fr. Devillers as Superior General. What is very strange is the fact that Cardinal Hoyos just followed absolutely all these counsels. The second thing, which astonishes us very much, is the fact that the Cardinal in his letter says that the New Mass is the true rule of the Church, and so that nobody, by any means or by any superior, can be forced not to say this New Mass, that it is open for everybody, because even if the Tridentine Mass is granted to this Fraternity of St. Peter, this is a special law; and you can never argue with a special law against the general law of the Church, he says. And so every priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter has the right to celebrate the New Mass, even if this would not be the common rule in the Fraternity of St. Peter.

Another very important event took place the 3rd of September when the Vatican declared "blessed" two Popes, Pius IX and John XXIII. Now, we agree very much with the elevation of Pius IX to the honor of the altar, the Pope of the Immaculate Conception, of the First Vatican Council, the Pope of the Syllabus of Errors, the Pope who condemned religious liberty. We are filled with joy to see him lifted up to the honor of the altars. But we have very serious questions about the other one, John XXIII. Why? Well, in the document about his beatification, the main virtues being considered are that he favored religious dialogue, that he favored ecumenism, and that he convened the Second Vatican Council. The impression is being given by Rome that his beatification is not meant so much to honor the person of John XXIII but to beatify the Second Vatican Council and its principles. If you ask proof of this, I can answer you. There is a proof. The feast of the new Blessed John XXIII is fixed on the 11th of October, a date which has nothing to do with his personal life, but which is the date of the convocation of the gathering of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. The Council opened on this date. The beatification of John XXIII is the beatification of the Council.

The Good and Bad of Dominus Jesus

Two days after the beatifications, a very important document of the Vatican was issued by Cardinal Ratzinger, the declaration Dominus Jesus – The Lord Jesus. There is no doubt this declaration contains very good statements, statements which rejoice us. For example, the Cardinal tries to limit the damage done by religious relativism by stating that every Catholic has to believe that only the books of the Old and the New Testament are inspired books, and not other books found in other religions like, for example, the Koran, or the so-called Holy Books of the Hindus, or whatsoever. Unfortunately, he forgot to add that if the Koran is not inspired, you should not kiss it [which the Holy Father has done himself]. There are other important statements, where he says, for example, that there is an enormous difference between the personal conviction of those who follow religious sects and those of the Catholic Faith. He says the Catholic Faith is a grace, is a supernatural gift, whereas the other is a personal adherence by experience or convictions but which has nothing to do with faith as a supernatural virtue. There is an enormous difference. So far, so good. But..., and this "But" is very important: There are also weak points.

There are also weaknesses in this declaration, and especially three points of which I want to make note.

What's in a Word?

The first weak point in this declaration is that it claims that the Church of Christ "subsists" in the Catholic Church. Now, what about this little word, "subsistit"? This is a key word of the whole Second Vatican Council. A key notion. Until the arrival of the Second Vatican Council, it was always said that the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. There is a full identification between these two notions. They are synonymous. The Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. You cannot explain it better or spell it out better.

Then, in the first draft of the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium of Vatican II, it was still put "the Church of Christ is the Catholic Church." But there came all these liberal spirits, who said, "Well, this statement, 'The Church of Christ is the Catholic Church,' is not very appropriate." Why not? – They answered with two reasons.

The first reason was, "Because there are also elements of sanctification and truth outside of the visible framework of the Catholic Church. For example, Baptism, if it is administered according to the right formula – 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' – and if it is done with the intention really to baptize, then even outside of the visible Body of the Church there is a true valid baptism." Or, in the Orthodox Church, you find even a valid priesthood, valid Eucharist. So, they said, "Well, it is not so easy to just identify those boundaries or limits."

Second reason: "If we were to clearly identify the Catholic Church simpliciter – that is, just simply – with the Church of Christ, the whole ecumenical movement would burn out. The Protestants would be angered that the Catholic Church had defined that their churches were not the Church of Christ!" And, so, the liberal spirits wanted to find another notion and another word to give the definition. They got the help they needed from a German Protestant, Pastor Schmidt, an observer invited by Cardinal Bea to take part in the Second Vatican Council. And he made the written proposal that in this definition, "The Church of Christ is the Catholic Church," the word "is" be replaced by "subsistit in." He handed this proposal to the then Fr. Joseph Ratzinger, who was at this time the Council expert [peritus] of Cardinal Frings from Cologne, Germany. Fr. Ratzinger in turn gave the proposal to Cardinal Frings who presented it before the Council, and the words "subsistit in" were incorporated into Lumen Gentium. So it has its origin from the Protestants. We were made aware of this fact by a priest from South Tyrol [old Austria, annexed to become today's northern Italy – Ed.], who wrote last year saying that he knew this Protestant pastor, and that he was still living. We asked him to send us the address. So we wrote to this Protestant pastor, and he confirmed by a letter of August 3rd that he was the one who handed over this proposal to Fr. Ratzinger. So we see that Fr. Ratzinger had taken a very active role to introduce the words "subsistit in" and rewrite a very important definition of the Catholic Church.

Now, you see the difference immediately. If the Church of Christ is not the Catholic Church but only subsists in the Catholic Church, it subsists perhaps today, but tomorrow it could be otherwise. It could subsist in another denomination, for example, with the Orthodox, or it could be shared among many. That was, for example, the position of Cardinal Newman when he was still an Anglican. He thought that the true Church of Christ was composed of three branches – the Roman Church, the Orthodox, and the Anglican. He gave up this error and he became Catholic. But you see that, if there is no longer any real identification between the Church of Christ and the Catholic Church, the door is open to religious relativism. In his declaration Dominus Jesus, Cardinal Ratzinger has cut down the cockle but left the roots in the earth. Instead of pulling out the roots or using poison to kill the roots, he left them in the earth. And so everything will come forth once again. That's one point.

The Whole Truth About "Partial Churches"

A second point in this declaration which it is important to note is that Cardinal Ratzinger says the Churches which have a true Eucharist, a valid Eucharist, and an apostolic succession (and he is thinking especially of the Orthodox here) are "true partial Churches." Now, what is a partial Church? – A partial Church is the localized Catholic Church in a diocese, with its bishop, its clergy, and its flock of faithful. So we have the Catholic Church in Chicago, or in Kansas City; or we have the Catholic Church in Milan, Italy, or the Church in Cologne. These are local Churches. But you cannot compare those local Churches with the Orthodox Church; you cannot compare the Orthodox Church as if it were a true partial Church. That's absurd, because the Orthodox, even if they have a valid Eucharist and a valid priesthood and apostolic succession, they have this apostolic succession only materially, not formally, because they are not linked to the Pope. Moreover, they do not recognize quite a lot of dogmas. For example, their position concerning Purgatory is unclear and confused; they do not accept the procession of the Holy Ghost from both the Father and the Son, nor the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Then, especially, they do not recognize the primacy of the Pope. They are schismatics and even, to a certain point, heretics. How can they then be a "partial Church?" To say that they are is absolutely irrational.

More Ways Than One?

The worst of the three points in Dominus Jesus is a statement taken directly from the Second Vatican Council teaching that the Holy Ghost has deigned these other denominations to be "ways of salvation." Now, once again, we do not deny the fact that there is baptism of desire. We do not deny that people in other denominations can be saved. But what we deny with all vigor and strength is that they are saved – if they are saved – by these other religions. We say they are not saved by these other religions, but they are saved in spite of these other religions. That is what has always been said.

This makes things very clear, because nobody can be saved without our Lord Jesus Christ and the Church He has instituted, the means He has instituted and wanted for our salvation. How can you argue against God, who has given us these means, saying "Well, I will choose my own means"? Cardinal Ratzinger quotes the decree about Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council in Dominus Jesus, which is very bad and absolutely false!

Once again, we received this declaration Dominus Jesus with mixed feelings. There are good things in it – very Catholic things – but any good is absolutely undermined by the bad in it.

Cardinals and More Cardinals

Recently, the Holy Father appointed 37 cardinals. Yesterday [Feb. 21, 2000], he named seven more for a total of 44. Among them there are some very valuable theologians and people, for example, the German, Fr. Leo Scheffczyk, or Archbishop Janis Pujats of Riga, Latvia. But there are also very dangerous people among the new cardinals. I just wanted to tell about two of them: the new Cardinals Karl Lehmann and Walter Kasper. They're both German. The first one is the head of the German Bishops' Conference who has resisted with all his force the guidelines set by the Vatican, from the Pope himself. Despite reprimands from Rome, he insisted on cooperating in the national plan of the German government to sponsor so-called "counseling offices" for pregnant women. A certificate is issued as proof of a woman's reception of counsel regarding her pregnancy, and with this certificate she is made eligible to receive an abortion. German bishops, in effect, were in a position to deliver these certificates with which the woman can go and have an abortion. The Pope and especially also Cardinal Ratzinger did not agree at all with the collaboration of the German bishops in this crime, and so they asked them to opt out of this whole system of counseling pregnant women. Cardinal Lehmann resisted strongly and publicly. He finally gave in, but only after being forced to do so. In addition, his faith in the resurrection of our Lord is not strong. He denies the historical resurrection of our Lord, as does the new Cardinal Kasper, his colleague, who himself denies the miracles of our Lord, questions the divinity of our Lord, His physical resurrection, and who says there are no definite truths. These are very basic things. These men are modernists in the worst sense you can imagine.

We are very much offended that those people now are promoted to be the most highly ranked ecclesiastical authorities in the Holy Catholic Church. But, in making a little investigation into how such appointments came to be made, we were told that there were threats, threats from Germany especially, that if there were not some cardinals appointed from Germany, then the whole Church in Germany would probably go into open schism.

 

THE SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X AND ITS FRIENDS

Let me speak, in this second point, about the work of our Society and also about the work of those communities which are affiliated with us. The work of the Society of Saint Pius X, my dear friends, is developing every day under the blessing of God in His infinite mercy. We have now a little bit more than 400 priests. We have at this moment more than 70 schools. We are very glad that we have this school here in Kansas City, and I was just at Saint Marys [Kansas]. It is wonderful to see these schools, these children trained. If tomorrow we want to have Catholic fathers and Catholic mothers, Catholic teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, statesmen, journalists, businessmen, and farmers, we must prepare them today. We must protect our children against this general corruption in the government schools. This corruption is primarily on the level of the intellectual matters. The whole history of mankind is completely falsified and the humanities are made despicable. The government schools are only training in technical regards, in mathematics, in the natural sciences, and so the whole development of souls does not take place any longer. Secondly, these schools foster moral corruption, a corruption of which you are very well aware. Finally, the public school is a place of religious corruption. They either speak no longer about any religious matter in the schools, or if they speak, they immediately put all the other religions on the same level together with the Catholic one; it's absolutely common. It is important to protect your children.

Then, we have our priories and our parishes. And it is a true blessing to see ourselves established in more than 30 countries with our priories, with our retreat houses. There is no doubt that this is a modest but real contribution to build up a new Christianity.

If you think about the first thousand years of the Church, one nation after another was won to the Faith. Their leaders, the kings, were baptized together with their people, and then the constitution and the morals all changed according to the law of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He was really the king of these societies, of these countries. Certainly, they had human defects, but they are always present because we all are children of Adam and Eve. Nevertheless, it was a Catholic society.

Today there is no longer any country in the whole world which in its constitution and its laws officially proclaims the Catholic Faith. In the first thousand years a progressive conversion, one country after another, and then, with the Lutheran reform, began the great apostasy. One nation after another left the Faith, gave up, changed public life, changed the constitutions, changed the laws, especially after the French Revolution. And so, our whole society became pagan, neo-pagan, became completely de-Christianized.

One day, I asked Archbishop Lefebvre, "What can we do to make these countries once again Catholic?" He said, "In my eyes, there are only two means: the schools for the children, and the retreats for the adults."  The schools for the children in order to prepare a Catholic future, a Christian future, and the retreats to maintain fervor among the Catholic flock and to push them towards Christian perfection – sanctity – so as to not be happy with a state of mediocrity, of routine, but prepared to strive for what our religion instituted: to know God, to love Him, to serve Him.

A Network of Tradition

There are not only the communities of our Society which are maturing, but there are also other communities linked with us that are gathering momentum. We are very thankful for this and made very happy.

Think about the Redemptorists of Fr. Simm, who now have their monastery in Northern Scotland on Papa Stronsay Island. They are preaching parish missions especially in the English-speaking countries. They have preached parish missions here in the US. Just recently they preached them in Australia and New Zealand. Everywhere I went in these places, I only heard praise about these wonderful exercises. It is absolutely splendid!

Think about the Benedictine Fathers of Santa Cruz in Brazil and of Silver City, New Mexico, in the US. Just a year and a half ago, the Benedictines made a new foundation in France [Notre Dame de Bellaigue, Virlet, France – Ed.] and they were able to buy an old abbey – wonderful old buildings, a whole monastery.

You have the Sisters of the Oasis. This community of Sisters was founded by Fr. Muñoz, a Spanish priest. They are contemplatives, dedicating themselves to prayer, sacrifice, and silence. Last year they made a new foundation in France, and they are planning to make a foundation in the United States next year in Oregon.

Looking to the East

But I wanted to especially speak about another community, not of the Western Church, but of the Eastern Church. In order to do so, I have to give you some historical introduction.

You know that in the year 1054, there was the Great Schism of the East, that is to say, the Greeks separated from the Roman Church. They no longer recognized the pope in Rome and established their own Orthodox Church. Now, afterwards, there were always attempts to heal this schism, to overcome it, but nothing really lasted. In 1438-39 the Council of Ferrara-Florence, in Italy, was gathered to address this issue, to bring unity once again between the East and the West, to try to bring back those people, those Christians living separated from the Western Church. Isidore, the patriarch from Kiev, which is today the capital of Ukraine, who lived in Moscow, took part in this Council. Two delegations, one from Kiev and one from Moscow, were present. When the union was reached, on paper, with the Ukrainian and Russian peoples, Isidore travelled immediately to the Ukraine to announce the union, making the people very happy there. Then he went to Moscow. But, in the meantime, following upon the agreement, the delegation of Moscow had propagandized the people there according to their vision of things, and Isidore was ultimately faced with an absolute rejection in Moscow of the union with Rome by the Great Prince and the clergy. From the year 1054 to this moment, the Russian Church functioned in a certain state of ambiguity. It was not clear whether it had been in schism together with the Greeks, or if, in fact, they held to the See of Peter in Rome. But from the moment the Council of Ferrara-Florence was repudiated, we must say that the Russian Church became schismatic. Sometime later they established their own patriarchate in Moscow. The Great Prince of Moscow put the Patriarch Isidore in prison and persecuted all those who were in favor of the union with Rome. In the Ukraine, without Isidore, nobody was able to provide or enforce the guidelines regarding the practicalities of this union, so it was not ever really realized.

About 150 years later, in 1596, there was finally an agreement between a very qualified minority of the Ukrainian people and Rome. This was the agreement of Brest-Litovsk, a very famous and very important agreement. In this agreement it was decided that the Ukrainians would return to the unity of the Holy See, that they could maintain their own Eastern Rite, that is, the Rite of the Greek Church (the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom), and that they could maintain their own laws, even the law concerning celibacy, which states that married men can be ordained priests, but a priest cannot marry. (That is to say, if somebody who is celibate is ordained a priest, afterwards he can no longer marry. Or if the wife of a married priest dies, the priest cannot re-marry. The upper clergy, the upper ranks, are always to be chosen from the clergy living in celibacy: the abbots and bishops and so on. And, there are no married bishops.) All these were left to them and so the union was fulfilled. From this moment on, you have three communities in the Ukraine: You have, first of all, the Orthodox, who are the majority. You have, secondly, those who are now called the Greek Catholics; Greek because they are holding to the Rite of the East, Catholic because they are united with the Holy See. Sometimes we call them the Uniates, or the Ukrainians, but the word "Uniates" is not very appropriate. It is especially used by the Orthodox and is used in a very pejorative sense. So, we should call them the Greek Catholics. The third community we will speak of momentarily.

There were people, priests, and bishops, who worked for the union, among them especially a Polish-born bishop named Josaphat (1580-1623), who was then assassinated by the schismatics. He shed his blood for the union with Rome. He was canonized in 1867; his feast is celebrated on the 14th of November. He was the first martyr of the Greek Catholic Church. His body rests on the right side of St. Peter's in Rome.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, western Ukraine was specially influenced by the West since this area belonged for a good time to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The whole cultural and social influence came from Western Europe. These people were very much influenced in their religion by Polish missionaries going into these countries who brought devotions normally unknown in the Church of the East, especially the Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, devotion to the Sacred Heart, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. This influence extended especially throughout five dioceses in west Ukraine.

The third community in the Ukraine is the Roman Catholics, those who hold to the Roman Rite. They are especially the Poles, or descendants from the Poles. They are a very small minority, but they are a still a community there.

This tripartate situation was the state of things when Communism took over power in Russia and also in the Ukraine. The Communists began to persecute the Church. They persecuted all religious belief but with different intensity. It was especially under Stalin, in 1946-47, that the Greek Catholic Church was completely suppressed, or, to say more exactly, it was annexed by force to the Orthodox Church. The bishops were all put in jail and later all assassinated. One exception was Cardinal Slipye, who after years in jail came out, and finally went to Rome, where he died in 1984. All the others were assassinated. Most priests were assassinated. The buildings of the churches were handed over to the Orthodox. There was no longer any legal existence of the Greek Catholic Church in the Ukraine.

The Greek Catholics had three options. Either they could accept Stalin's prescription to join the Orthodox, which would have meant being unfaithful to the Church, or they could join the Latin Rite, which was much less persecuted because it was considered a very small minority left largely alone by Stalin on account of the foreigners living in the Ukraine; this gave the impression that there was religious liberty. So Stalin did not persecute Roman Catholics in the same way he did the Greek Catholics. For example, the Church of St. Louis in Moscow, which was built by the French in the 19th century, stayed open during all the years of the Communist domination. There were always services. Nevertheless people who would go there were observed; there were cameras all around the church, and everybody who would go there was registered. The facade was just to give a favorable impression.

So, the first option of this people was to separate themselves from the Church, be unfaithful to the Church. The second option was to be unfaithful to their own rite, to their own customs, to go over to the Latin Rite, which they did not want to do at all. It has another mentality. The third option was to go underground, and this they did. The Greek Church stayed underground for many years, and finally in 1989-90 when the Iron Curtain fell, these people came out from the underground. The first thing they asked for was that their churches be given back to them, and in fact, they recovered about a thousand churches in west Ukraine, half the total number, but were refused the other half. This was a further cause for even more deeply-seated animosity between the Orthodox and the Greek Catholics.

These Greek Catholics have looked for support; these people who had suffered for the Church, for the See of Peter, who had suffered for their faithfulness. There are martyrs among them, and they looked for support from Rome, from the bishops, from the West. They were terribly deceived because, in the meantime, a new wind was blowing through the Church, the wind of ecumenism and dialogue with the Orthodox. And because of it, the Greek Catholics were more or less considered to be unwelcome children, disturbers of this dialogue, and obstacles to Rome's ecumenical union with the Orthodox. What a disappointment this was for these people! We cannot imagine the disappointment they must have felt so see these things!

Some of the Greek Catholic bishops in the Ukraine said, "Since it is now the new orientation, well, let us go along with it." In order not to disturb the dialogue with the Orthodox, they suppressed the Rosary in their churches. They suppressed the Stations of the Cross. They no longer promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart or to the Eucharist. People, however, became very worried about what was going on, and said, "But these are the devotions that helped us to overcome the persecution. This was our help. These were the means by which we could keep the Faith in the underground." What did they do in the underground? They said the Rosary! They said the Stations of the Cross! The people said, "We do not like this. We want to keep these devotions. We cannot abandon these. These are identical with our Faith."

These compromising bishops then did another thing: they began to introduce the vernacular language. Up until the 1990's, the liturgy was always celebrated in the Old Slavonic language in the Greek Rite. Now, these bishops wanted to introduce the Ukrainian language, the vernacular language. People did not want this either. So, certain people began to look for where the liturgy was still celebrated in the old Slavonic language, and so began the very same process that we knew 25 or 30 years ago here in the West when we looked to preserve the Latin language of the Roman Rite.

Mustard Seeds in the Ukraine

In the diocese of Ivano-Frankivs in west Ukraine, a Greek Catholic priest was suspended in the autumn of 1999. Why? – Because he did not want the charismatics in his parish and because he did not like to celebrate the liturgy in the vernacular language. He was suspended and kicked out of his parish. Some like-minded priests began to organize around this priest, visiting with one another and building up a little group. Already, by the start of the 1990's, the Society of Saint Pius X had contact with these priests. Fr. Jean-Marc Rulleau, then a professor at Ecône, visited these countries several times, and, finally, when the priory in Warsaw was opened in 1996, Fr. Stehlin, the superior there, was charged to maintain contacts with the Ukraine. He went there several times. These priests with whom we had contact reflected among themselves, saying, "We must form ourselves into a group as the priests of Campos in Brazil did. We need our own statutes. We must defend ourselves!" Fr. Stehlin went there to preach a retreat last year in June or July – one retreat, 120 participants, almost all young people! In September, I went there together with Fr. Stehlin to take a closer look at things and to give some conferences. Upon our arrival, a priest from Odessa, which is on the Black Sea, came to see us, an elderly priest who takes care of about 70 families. He said, "Here in the Ukraine, the clergy is divided into two classes, the ones who are crucified, and the others who crucify them." These were his words.

Let me tell you what we saw on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

You should first know that the calendar of the Greek Catholics is the Julian Calendar; the West has the Gregorian Calendar. So, their calendar is 13 days after our calendar: they celebrate Christmas, not December 25th, but January 7th; they celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, not August 15th, but on August 28th; they celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, not on September 14th, but on September 27th. So, we were there on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, a very important feast for the people in the Eastern world. We were with one young priest in a parish. This priest has altogether three or four churches to pastor. He has three or four vicars to help him in these churches. It was a Wednesday, a normal work day. At 7:00 a.m. that morning, in a parish which has 3,000 registered Greek Catholics, there were 400 people at Mass; at 9:00 a.m. for the second Mass, there were about a thousand people assisting. The liturgy is very long and the people have no benches in the churches, no seats, nothing. They stand, and prostrating, kiss the ground. It is absolutely impressive to see the devotion and piety of these people. And then, in the evening, for the third Mass of the feast, about 300–400 people. After the Mass, at 7:45 p.m., the Stations of the Cross began, but not in the church. No. Outside in the streets of the city. Two men carried a big cross about 16-feet long. They carried it and erected it for every Station. This Way of the Cross took two and a half hours! We finished at 10:15 p.m.! The next day we had a meeting with some aspirants to the priesthood. Because these priests have thought about the future, the need to train seminarians, the need for priests, they have secretly founded a seminary. So we met with these young men to give them a conference. Afterwards, we met with seven priests of this group. At this meeting, we gave them a history of the Society of Saint Pius X, about the fight for the Faith, about the situation in the Church. We looked over the statutes they had prepared for their group (which were patterned after those of the Society), answered questions they put to us, and, finally, witnessed the founding of this new priestly society of traditional Greek Catholic priests, the Society of Saint Josaphat. It was quite touching to see these seven priests kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament reciting their Act of Oblation, signing it, then exchanging the kiss of peace among themselves and with us. They recognize us as their supplementary ecclesiastical authority.

This ceremony took place in a big factory, a big factory with about 800 employees. The owners of this factory are Catholic converts, but they used to be Communists. When they converted, they had asked one of the priests what they could do for reparation and he said, "You will install a chapel in your factory." And so they did. They used a whole floor, and you can imagine that it is big! Well, now it contains a chapel for the Mass, another chapel devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, another chapel for the Passion of our Lord, a chapel for confessions, and a big conference hall! These priests have also started a community of Sisters, and there are about ten Sisters. One of the Sisters is there in the factory to read to the workers during their meals – spiritual reading!

Bishop Fellay went there in November to bless the new house which was given to these priests to serve as their seminary. Fr. Basil, who was elected superior of this Society of Saint Josaphat, came to see us in Germany and Switzerland. On December 8, he visited our Sacred Heart Seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany, the novitiate of our Society of Saint Pius X Sisters in Germany, and he went to see the General House in Menzingen, then he went to Ecône to see the other mother seminary there.

Fr. Basil asked the Society of Saint Pius X to take charge of their seminary. This would be a difficult thing; firstly, because of the liturgy which is quite different than the Tridentine Rite; secondly, because of characteristic differences in mentality and spirituality; and, thirdly, the question of language. They asked us to do so because, on the one hand, the priests are completely overwhelmed by work in their parishes, and on the other hand, because they were all trained in the underground. As you can imagine, their own training was not the most regular, so they would need some help. We finally agreed that three of our priests would each go for one-week stints: Fr. Stehlin, who teaches in Polish; Fr. Bosiger, who teaches in Russian; and Fr. LaRoche, who takes a translator.

The Real Thing

My dear friends, if you want to see today an example of true Christianity, go there. The common greeting among Catholics is "Slava Jesu Christu"–"Praised be Jesus Christ" to which it is answered, "May God be praised forever." The people are very poor, extremely poor. A normal salary would be $40 a month, and that would be relatively high. Many of them have a little garden or field, very small, to have some vegetables or corn, in order to be self-sufficient regarding food. The health of the people is generally very bad. Why? – First of all, there is not sufficient nutrition. Vitamins are lacking and the people are under-nourished. Sufficient medicine is not available here. A second cause of general bad health is the result of the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant; that was in the Ukraine. Consequently, the health of all these people is damaged; they are all affected by this. But, perhaps because they are so poor, there is still a profound faith. I remember when I was a child in Germany I saw things like this, because I come from a very Catholic area; I saw all these devotions and all this piety – people going to the church during the day. That was normal, that was how it used to be, and in the Ukraine you still find it.

ROME AND THE SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X

It was in spring of 2000 that Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, who was the Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy in Rome, became also the Prefect of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. The past of this Cardinal, who is a Colombian, is not always very glorious. When he was a young bishop in Columbia he was considered to be left-wing, to be more progressive, and he contributed also to bringing about changes in the constitution of Columbia antithetical to the Catholic Church. So, he was really not a very conservative man. Eventually he became Archbishop of Bacaramanga, and then finally he was appointed to Rome, where he is now considered to be a conservative man. He is responsible for distributing some documents regarding the sanctification of priests which are quite valuable. The priests who serve on his staff, according to witnesses, are priests who look and sound as though they really have a sense of the Church. Also, bishops with whom I have contact and who know him have high regard for him. The conservatives have consideration for him. Why did he change from his past orientation? – I do not know. Is it a profound change? – I do not know.

The Hoyos Connections

On June 10, 2000, he granted an interview to the Austrian magazine, Profil, which asked different questions about the Church and the crisis and what was going on. At the end they asked about the Latin Mass, the Society of Saint Pius X, and his new task as the Prefect of the Ecclesia Dei Commission. He said in this interview that he did not see any obstacle to giving permission to say the old Mass to every priest who wants to celebrate it. He said, "This Mass has been celebrated for centuries, and I do not know why we should forbid it, and these people who want to celebrate it have a good moral standing. Why should we not permit it?"

About the same time he wrote a letter to the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X reminding them that this was the Jubilee Year, a time of reconciliation, and perhaps you could come and see me; the arms of the Holy Father are open wide to you, etc. Nice words, aren't they? Each bishop responded in his own individual manner.

In July, he intervened in the administration of the Fraternity of Saint Peter, of which I already spoke. One month later, the Society sponsored its Pilgrimage of Tradition to Rome, August 8-10. This pilgrimage was very important for us because we wanted not only to win the indulgence for the Jubilee Year, but we also wanted to manifest our attachment to the Holy See, to Eternal Rome, because we are not just Catholics, we are Roman Catholics. So we wanted to prove that we have no schismatic spirit, that Rome is our Mother, despite that fact that we do not agree at all with the actual orientation. This pilgrimage was also important for the mass media, who took notice of it. All the Roman newspapers wrote about it, and the television broadcast an interview with Bishop Fellay. The day we entered St. Peter's (Aug. 8), the Italian news service broadcast a report saying, "Something happened today that has never been seen before in the 2000-year history of the Catholic Church: 5,000 excommunicated people went to St. Peter's to pray there!"

One of our friends who works in the Roman Curia said that, when he went to his office the morning after the pilgrimage, there was only one subject that was spoken about, the pilgrimage of the "Lefebvrists." He went to the second floor, same discussion; third floor, same discussion. It was being talked about everywhere. He said the general feeling in the Curia was that if the bishops were excommunicated, it certainly cannot be said that all these people are excommunicated, too. A certain common sense seemed to prevail.

For the Roman authorities themselves, this pilgrimage was very important because they received first-hand knowledge of our real attitude towards Rome. We had officially asked to be able to enter the Basilicas in procession, and written permission for this was given us by the hand of Cardinal Sepe. Nevertheless, a watchdog was put at our side, a Roman monsignor who accompanied us everywhere to see, I guess, that we did not do silly things. When Bishop Fellay finished his sermon in St. Peter's, the monsignor inquired of Fr. Simoulin, the Society's District Superior of Italy, who it was who preached? Fr. Simoulin told him that it was Bishop Fellay. He said, "I have never heard a sermon from the mouth of a cardinal that was as good as this sermon." In the end he said that he was very edified by this pilgrimage and that he would make a very good report. There was no word hurting charity or unity, he said.

We were especially well-received in St. Mary Major by the monsignor who was responsible for the liturgical events there. He said that he never makes it difficult for any priest who wants to say the Latin Mass there. "I myself have been to Ecône," he said, "and have even assisted at the Masses of Archbishop Lefebvre." The day after the pilgrimage we returned to thank him for his reception; he told us that our pilgrimage was the biggest one he had seen come through St. Mary Major during the Jubilee Year. He told us any of our priests could celebrate the Latin Mass at St. Mary Major whenever they wished.

Bishop Fellay proved his words true when he was allowed to celebrate a sung Mass on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother (August 15) in one of the side chapels of the basilica.

About three weeks ago, in early February, one of our confreres was in Rome to visit and happened to meet two monsignors who told him, "You cannot imagine what impact your pilgrimage had on the Roman authorities. They have refound the Church." That was what they said: "They have refound the Church."

When Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos heard about our pilgrimage, and that the bishops of the Society were in Rome, he jumped on the occasion and phoned invitations to them to come and see him before they departed. Bishop de Galarreta was already on his way back to Spain, but the other three went to see him. He expressed his satisfaction with the pilgrimage; he said he was very edified and that he had received good reports. One of the bishops replied that such a pilgrimage was the fruit of the old Mass. The bishops promised the Cardinal that he would get a letter from us. In the name of the others, one of the bishops wrote in his letter, "Your Eminence, make the Mass free as you have said yourself in your interview [in Profil]; just keep the word that you had in your interview. Free the Mass; this will change the atmosphere in the Church, and this could be the basis of a new dialogue. But free the Mass." No answer.

Then Bishop Fellay gave an interview to 30 Days. These people of 30 Days always have a slight tendency to diminish certain statements, and to bring people together where there are difficulties, and so in this interview they rounded the edges a little bit in the final published interview. Bishop Fellay was not very happy when he saw this interview. But the Pope read this interview very carefully. Everywhere in Rome it was read.

Following the publication of the 30 Days interview, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos blessed the new seminary building of the Fraternity of Saint Peter in Wigratzbad, Germany (Dec. 2). His sermon, which was published in their bulletin, was classic but otherwise not remarkable. In a public statement he made after the sermon, however, he said that he hoped for a normalization with the Society of Saint Pius X. He said this in their seminary. At a meeting with the professors of this seminary, he said that the bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X had quite impressed him, and that he feels that they were "men of the Church." He could not have made a better statement about our bishops. This is what we have always said, that they are "men of the Church."

Later on, he wrote a letter to the Fraternity of Saint Peter in which he said that he was very impressed with the Mass in Wigratzbad, and that it was his first Pontifical Mass in the old Rite. (You must know that Cardinal Hoyos was consecrated in 1971, a time when there was already the New Mass, so he never had the occasion to celebrate anything but the Novus Ordo.) He said that he felt the Latin Mass really expressed the Catholic Faith.

In November he wrote a letter to Bishop Fellay, saying, "After having read your interview, I invite you to come to Rome to see me and to prepare an audience with the Holy Father." This invitation was the purpose of his letter. At that moment, Bishop Fellay was packing for a trip to South America to ordain priests at the seminary in La Reja and then to visit throughout the District. He replied, "I cannot come now; it is impossible before Christmas; it must wait. Let's make contact after Christmas." When he returned from Argentina, there was new contact. So Bishop Fellay went to Rome on December 29, and he had an interview for two hours with the Cardinal, a personal meeting, nobody was there. There were very astonishing statements made on the side of the Cardinal. Bishop Fellay told him that we want to fight against the errors and that there was no chance that we would ever stop fighting the modernism and liberalism in the Church. Cardinal Hoyos said that he considered Karl Rahner to be the man who has done the most damage to the Church in the 20th century (which is quite true!). But, he also said, "I do not understand your reasons for the old Mass." Bishop Fellay gave him some arguments.

That evening the Cardinal rang him up and told him that his audience with the Holy Father was scheduled for the following morning. The audience took place December 30 in the Pope's private chapel. Bishop Fellay told us that the chapel is quite traditional, no altar facing the people, altar on the wall, tabernacle on the altar. The Pope is in really bad health. The Pope said the Our Father together with the Cardinal, the Secretary of the Pope, Bishop Fellay, and Fr. Simoulin. Nobody else in the Vatican knew about this audience. It had been foreseen by the Cardinal that it would be very short, more or less only a greeting. Immediately afterwards the Pope had to go down for the official audience that was awaiting him.

The Next Moves?

Now the question is, what is to be done? We met on January 13, 2001, in the General House in Menzingen. It was a meeting of the General Council, the four bishops, and also Fr. Rifan from the Diocese of Campos, Brazil, as the delegate of Bishop Rangel, to discuss things, and to determine what our attitude would be. Finally, we decided to write to the Cardinal, telling him that we wanted guarantees. We asked for guarantees. We are serious about things. These things are profound. We asked two things: 1) that every priest in the world can say the old Mass without any restriction; and 2) that Rome take back the declaration of excommunication. It must be pointed out that we have always considered these excommunications to be null and void, so we did not ask for the "lifting" of the excommunications; rather, we asked that they "take back" the declaration of the excommunications. What they do, how they present it, is their affair, but that is what we asked.

Two days later, Bishop Fellay had an appointment in Rome which had been planned a long time ago, and which had nothing to do with these new developments. He met there Cardinal Stickler, an Austrian, very old but still very lucid, who normally says the old Mass. He met Cardinal Augustin Mayer [former first head of the Ecclesia Dei Commission –Ed.], and he also met Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos. Cardinal Hoyos told him that the day previous he had a meeting with the Pope, who invited him, quite surprisingly, to have lunch with him, and spoke the whole time about the Society of Saint Pius X. They discussed things. The Cardinal also said, "If there is a disagreement in your ranks, then let us postpone normalization. Either you come all together, or we wait." This is quite a reasonable position. Bishop Fellay, at this moment, told him about the two points we ask, telling him that a letter would follow, but it was not yet written, and so he told him, "Free the Mass and take back the declaration of the excommunications." Cardinal Hoyos took note of this and transmitted it immediately to the Pope's secretary.

Then, on January 26th, Fr. Rifan was in Rome. He also met with Cardinal Hoyos to present the case of Campos to him. At this meeting, the Cardinal said, "With these two guarantees, okay, okay, fine, yes. There should be no major obstacles, but it is difficult to ask the bishops to allow the Mass; it is difficult." Fr. Rifan said, "You do not ask the bishops, but you declare that everybody can say the old Mass." Said the Cardinal, "Aha, yes, but, well..."

Why the Rush?

We can ask ourselves why Rome is in such a hurry. We did not expect, to speak very frankly, that there would be any new developments in this pontificate, which is now reaching its end. We thought that we would have to wait till the next pope took the throne, that then there would be a new approach from their side or from our side. Why suddenly this approach?

I think we must acknowledge that people have prayed a lot all along, that they have made many sacrifices. People have offered their lives as a sacrifice to God. All this has its value in the eyes of God.

But when it comes to the human reasons, I guess that the Pope himself considers the thing with the Society as a little bit of a spot on his pontificate. These are guesses. We do not know. We really do not know, but I would guess that he considers this a spot on his pontificate. He has received everybody – the Hindus and Moslems and everybody – while his own most faithful sons he has cast out of the house. Does he want to go like this to eternity?

Then, there are certainly people in Rome who say, "We must reach a solution under this pontificate because this pope has such a moral authority that we can resolve the problem. But we do not know who will be the next pope, and it might take years till he can consecrate himself to this problem. So, let us resolve this now and with this pope." These are all guesses, once again.

Then, there are certainly other people, like Cardinal Ratzinger, who say, "Things in the Church are so bad that we urgently need a contra-force in the Church, people who bring stability, people who will help us to fight against these abuses and all these things."

And, we can think, Rome has made a move because the health of the Pope is declining more and more; another reason I believe they are so much in a hurry. Cardinal Hoyos himself said that, on their side, they wanted to finish it by this Easter! They are in a hurry; we, however, are not in a hurry. That's very important. We are under no pressure. But, I think these are a few of the possible reasons.

Step by Little Sstep

The Church is in a profound crisis. The characteristic of this crisis is that it is first of all a crisis of doctrine and faith, not of morality or discipline. It is a crisis of doctrine and faith, and there is no doubt that these points have to be resolved. We brought this to the attention of the Cardinal, saying, "Let us first of all discuss these things." And he said, "This takes too much time. Let us first have the solution, and then we can discuss these things." That's a bit dangerous, a bit dangerous! In any case, if you look into the history of the Church in similar cases, you will see that such a crisis, which is so profound, and perhaps the most profound that the Church has ever experienced, can only be overcome step by step. The solution will not just fall from Heaven. You cannot expect that tomorrow every priest will once again begin celebrating the old Mass, and that's it; or that all the former Catholic nations will once again become Catholic nations, and the like. It will not be like this. It only can be overcome step by step. For example, the restoration of the Catholic Church by the Council of Trent – all its decisions, the reforms, the work of popes – took several pontificates. It was a relatively long process. And so it will be today.

When I was District Superior of Austria for four years, I was in relatively good contact with the local bishop of our district seat, the bishop of St. Pölten, Bishop Krenn, who is the most conservative amongst the Austrian bishops and who has true sympathy for us, true understanding to a certain point. We discussed things several times. About one year ago he told me, "You guys cannot expect that when you come back, the whole house will be cleaned out." And I told him, "Your Excellency, we are quite ready to help with the cleaning out." And I added, "We are even ready to clean the toilets!" But, I told him, "The problem is that you permit us to clean. That's the problem. Permit us to clean!"

Now our situation in the midst of this crisis is to defend the Catholic Faith, and we know that Faith is more than obedience. So, in 1975, when this so-called "suppression" of the Society of Saint Pius X came, we continued our work. We said, "That is an attack against the Church, and so we will continue." In 1976, when Archbishop Lefebvre was so-called "suspended" we continued. In 1988, after the consecration of the bishops, when there was the so-called "excommunications," we continued our work. We continued, but nevertheless, the situation in which we find ourselves, which is a legitimate situation, and a very necessary situation – there is no other way, there is absolutely no other way! – is not a normal situation. It is a situation of necessity. If there is a possibility, a reasonable and prudent possibility, to settle things, then we must settle things. I would make a comparison: If a family was split up, even if it is the unique fault of the one side, the other side must try to normalize the situation once again, even if it is the unique fault of the one side.

The Nitty Gritty

First, all and any solutions would have to include the bishops, all our priests, our priest-friends, the faithful, and those communities who are linked in friendship with us. Partial precedents exist. There are different models, different canonical forms, which give us an idea of how and where a solution could be found.

Second, we must continue to fight errors; that is not only a permission, it is a duty, a holy duty. It is a duty to fight against this desacralization, this de-Christianization; it is a duty to fight against religious liberty, against ecumenism, against collegiality.

Third, we need absolute guarantees that we have the means to continue our work: the bishops, the priories, and so on. So I think there is no other alternative than, if Rome wants a solution, they take us as we are. This was done with the Ukrainians in 1596. The Ukrainians were accepted as they were. A solution must be like the building up of a fortress, where the enemy cannot enter but where we can shoot out.

Finally, if we have a solution, the fight will not be over; rather, the true fight will begin, in a certain sense, and the question will be, "Who converts whom?" If we convert them, then it is good; if they convert us, then it is very bad. So, the aim, my dear friends, is clear. The aim is to work for the triumph of Catholic Tradition, fully and publicly recognized by Rome. The question is how to reach this aim. Is it really now a possibility? Has the hour of God come or not? – We do not know. In any case, the very latest news is that Cardinal Hoyos has said, "Okay, we recognize that the old Mass is not abrogated and is legitimate, but we cannot say it publicly because there will be too much of a rebellion, and difficulties with the bishops. We cannot say it publicly." But that is what we want. We want it to be said publicly. Their private conviction is not so interesting. What is interesting is what they say publicly. So long as they do not say this publicly, we have told them we will not go one step further. They must say this publicly. That is a decisive step.

It is important to see that the freeing of the Latin Mass is not the only matter, far from it! There are other problems – a lot of other problems! But it is the first step, an important step.

So you see, really, that it is a time for prayer and a time for work. There are two things which are important. On the one side, prayer, on the other side that we keep a profound unity among us, because the devil will do everything to try to split us up. I heard just today that on the Internet there are rumors that a contract was signed with Rome, that Bishop de Galarreta did not agree with this, and that he left the Society of Saint Pius X. That is all false. There is no agreement, first of all. Secondly, there is unity among us. But we must be very vigilant.

 

COUNSELS AND ADMONITIONS

In a very short fourth point, I want to give you some counsels and recommendations. I already pointed out the necessity and the importance of continuing to pray, to pray hard and with fervor. My dear friends, be very fervent, zealous, burning souls. I think that, if a solution is found, I would consider it as a true miracle. Miracles are rare. They can be obtained, nevertheless, by prayer.

A second thing I want to suggest to you is that you study Catholic doctrine, especially the social doctrine of the Church. If you do not know what a Catholic society is, how can you work for one? Study especially the works of Fr. Denis Fahey, for example. He has written absolutely wonderful books. They are worth reading. You must read. You must nourish your souls. You must enlighten your spirit. You must enkindle your hearts, your charity. You must inform yourselves! There is another book, a very thick book, which was published relatively recently. It would not be for everybody – Iota Unum. It is not an easy book, but it is a very informative book. Excellent! Archbishop Lefebvre wished – the Italian edition was published long ago – that it would be the book every seminarian had in his hands.

Finally, my dear friends, let us work all together for a Catholic America. We have never known in this country a real Catholic society, a completely Catholic society. We have known this in Europe. Let us work for this. Your country has very nice and good aspects. There is no doubt about this. But I think that your country would be much nicer if it were a Catholic one. So, let us not be Catholics who consider our priories as just service stations. What do I mean by service stations? – That means, I want, on Sunday, my Mass, and from time to time to get rid of my sins in the confessional, and for my kids I want a little bit of catechism, and sometimes a sermon, not too long because I want to go home, and that's it. The rest I am not interested in at all. This I would call a mentality of service stations. It is very bad.

We must be missionary, apostolic souls, zealous, working for Catholic families, Catholic schools, participating in retreats and also working for Catholic authority in your country at all levels – Catholic laws, Catholic institutions. That's very important. If not, we are not true Catholics. If you are not working for this, if this is not your desire, that our Lord Jesus Christ as King is also King in your country, and that all is submitted to Him, from the President, the Constitution, and all laws, then you are no true Catholic.

Regarding these discussions with Rome, let us all keep the sense of the Church. When we enter these negotiations, it is not strictly for the Society of Saint Pius X. It is not so that we will secure for ourselves a more comfortable position. Not at all! We are entering these negotiations for the Catholic Church. The Church is our love. The Church is our life. The Church is our passion! We have a true passion for the Church. She is the Bride of Jesus Christ, and we love the Church, and we are quite ready to lay down our lives for the Church. And so we are working for the Church, not for ourselves. When he went down to Rome throughout his life – he went quite often – the Archbishop always tried to go one step further to free the Mass and to spark a re-triumph of Catholic Tradition. That was his aim. Even then, however, there were already people who called him a traitor because he spoke with the Roman authorities. But that is not right. Even if these people are very imperfect, or have been involved in modernism and liberalism, or have false ideas, or have impure intentions...Who knows? This all may be, but we'll see. Let us work out something, perhaps.

I think the time has really come to try. We have very good cards in our hands. We will not give them out; we will use them to make Catholic Tradition triumph publicly in Rome so that it is recognized once again. That is our aim, nothing else! We are not working for ourselves; we are working for the Church. We are living for the Church; we are working for the Church; we pray for the Church. I think this is what our Lord expects from us because it is His Mystical Body, and he laid down His life for the Church, for His unspotted Bride. Even if people in authority in this Church are very imperfect, well, our Lord told us that the wheat is amidst the cockle, and He said, "Leave both till the time of the harvest." You cannot pull out all the cockle; it is not possible without damaging the wheat. So let us overcome the crisis positively by prayer, by sacrifice, by discussion if necessary and then only with firm steps. There will be no further discussions if Rome does not agree to recognize publicly the right of all priests to say the old Mass.

Let us especially take refuge in the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is celebrated in the Church as the one who has overcome all the heresies in the world. In this way, I think, we are really working for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Thank you very much.

Transcribed by the Angelus Press staff. Adapted and abridged by Fr. Kenneth Novak to maintain its conversational tone.

 

OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE FROM THE SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS X

The latest developments in the negotiations between Rome and the Society of Saint Pius X are reported in the following communication from the headquarters of the
Society of Saint Pius X.

"During the month of December last, as most of you know already, Bishop Fellay met with Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos in Rome, at the Cardinal's request. On this occasion the Cardinal made a proposal with the intention of taking care of our situation. It was likewise at that time that the very brief meeting with the Pope took place, at which only greetings were exchanged.

On January 16 of this year, during a further meeting with the same Cardinal, more precise proposals were presented. Bishop Fellay responded by a letter dated January 21, in which he in principle accepted these contacts, but with the request that Rome agree first of all to two preliminaries, in order to dissipate somewhat the distrust that we can legitimately feel, given the circumstances. These preliminaries concern, firstly about the lifting of the yoke that weighs upon the traditional Mass, so that every priest might be able to celebrate it freely; and secondly the annulment of the censures with which the bishops were unjustly charged.

In a subsequent proposal, Cardinal Castrillón gave further precisions about the solution offered to us. However, the two preliminaries did not receive a satisfactory solution, and in particular the first.

This is the reason why Bishop Fellay communicated to the Cardinal his desire to suspend the contacts for a while, while waiting for the accomplishment of the first preliminary, which is indispensable on the one hand for there to be a minimum of trust, and on the other hand to create a suitable climate in such a way that forces presently paralyzed might be mobilized to bring about a true restoration of Holy Mother Church. Moreover, this would be a first assurance that our future situation, if such an arrangement were eventually to be accomplished would not be likened to a zoo or a park for species about to become extinct."

Society of Saint Pius X General Headquarters

Menzingen