Bishop Bernard Tissier de Mallerais

On Sunday, July 30, 2006, in St. Nicolas du Chardonnet Church, Paris, at the 10:30 a.m. high Mass, the Swedish Lutheran pastor Sten Sandmark was received into the Catholic Church together with his associate Joachim Svensson. Since the ecclesiastical authorities do not wish to exercise this function due to the errors of modern ecumenism, the Society of Saint Pius X does what the Church has always done. On this occasion, Bishop Tissier de Mallerais delivered an historic sermon.

My very dear Brethren:

Today, I will preach before the Mass since we have this quite extraordinary event, the conversion of Pastor Sten Sandmark and one of his associates, who want to enter the Catholic Church. It is a great joy for the Church on this Feast of St. Elina, a Swedish martyr of the 12th century.

Dear Pastor, I am not going to try to retrace the course of your conversion. I'll simply say that it was the grace of the Holy Ghost and the fruit of the intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all graces. To tell the truth, you were not really a Lutheran, although you belonged to the Swedish Lutheran Church. You did not share its doctrine, since you held the Catholic doctrines of justification, grace, transubstantiation, the Holy Mass, and many other Catholic dogmas which are denied by the Protestants. But unity was lacking to you, the unity of Christ's true Church.

You yourself, dear Pastor, were a priest. You were so for 31 years, following a ceremony of ordination. There is evidently a doubt concerning this ordination, since it is not known whether the apostolic succession in the Swedish Church is valid or not. For 31 years you celebrated what you thought to be a valid Mass in Swedish, and during these 31 years of ministry, you wanted to pursue the mission of redeeming the souls that Christ confided to His Church, as you put it in your beautiful declaration, which is available to the faithful.

You wanted to pursue the mission of the Church by the preaching of the Gospel, according to Christ's word to His Apostles: "Go forth into the whole world, preaching the Gospel to all creatures." You wanted to do this also by the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, according to Jesus' word to His Apostles: "Every time that you do this, you do it in memory of me," and by the administration of the seven sacraments, the existence of which you recognized, sacraments instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ. But alas, Catholic unity and the certitude of a valid priesthood was lacking.

What is, very dear faithful, the Catholic doctrine on the real Church of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is a mystery of unity professed by the Apostle St. Paul, which we profess in Apostles' Creed, in the Creed that we will sing in a few moments: "I believe in only one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." The central mystery of the Christian religion: only one God in three persons, and we will also say: "I believe in only one Lord Jesus Christ, in only one Savior, unique Redeemer of souls by His precious Blood, who died on the Cross," a dogma of faith that is currently denied by some of those who have the highest positions in the Catholic Church. "I believe also in only one baptism in remission of sins." And, in short, "I believe in One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." It is the Mystical Body of our Lord Christ, i.e., the Body whose members are transplanted into Christ in order to live from the very Life of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Chief and our Head.

This Catholic Church was founded on Peter, the first pope, according to the words of Jesus Christ to St. Peter: "Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jona, because it is not flesh and blood, but it is My Father in heaven that has revealed this to you," to know that I am God's Son.
And I tell thee this in my turn, thou art Peter, and it is upon this rock that I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it....Whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Mt. 16:17-19)

It is indeed St. Peter who went to Rome, where he established his episcopal seat, and which made the Catholic Church the Roman Church, mother and head of all churches of the world. It is there, in Rome, that St. Peter sealed by his blood, by his martyrdom, his mission of being the first pope. And it is there that he transmitted to his successors the supreme jurisdictional power over the whole Church, over both the sheep and the pastors, according to Christ's word: "Feed my lambs, feed my sheep" (Jn. 21:15-17).

Christ's true Church is therefore the Roman Church. And this Roman Catholic Church is necessary to salvation–the third truth of faith. The first is that the Church is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic; the second, that the Roman Church was founded on Peter; and the third is that the Roman Church is necessary for the salvation of souls, outside of which no one can work out his salvation. This means that someone who would know that the Catholic Church is Christ's true Church and who, nevertheless, would stay outside of this Church, could not be saved according to Christ's words: "He who listens to you, listens to Me; he who despises you, despises Me; and who despises Me, despises the One that sent Me, God the Father."

Of these truths, dear Pastor, you were convinced and this is why you desire to rejoin Catholic unity, because you felt truly that in the Lutheran Swedish Church you were not at home. Indeed, since Martin Luther rebelled in 1517 against the Church and provoked the schism and the Protestant heresy, these communities separated themselves from the Catholic unity and split increasingly into a multitude of sects, all different as to the various dogmas that they either accept or reject, and of which not a single one can prove itself to come from the Apostles by an uninterrupted and legitimate episcopal succession as in the Catholic unity, in submissiveness to Peter's successor.

To this was added lately, in this Swedish Church separated from Rome, the ordination of "priestesses," which is lamentable, as well as the nuptial blessing granted to those called "homosexuals," an abominable thing in God's eyes and which is the best proof that this Church is not at all the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why you felt obliged to take the serious resolution to convert. Ten years ago you approached the Catholic bishop of Sweden, asking him: "Your Excellency, I would like to become a Catholic." And this bishop shamefully answered you: "No, remain as you are, it's good for ecumenism." Here is what the new Church of the Council, which we call the Conciliar Church, does! She prevents the conversion of those who want to come back to Catholic unity. "Stay as you are, it's good for ecumenism!" What a serious error!

So for over ten years you were anxious, when providentially, last year, the pilgrimage of UNEC [United Nations of Christian Europe] to Sweden and to the tomb of St. Bridget, passed not far from your house. And you welcomed our pilgrims for the celebration of the Mass because the churches were refused to them. That's how you became acquainted with what we call Catholic Tradition, i.e., the core, the elite of the Catholic faithful, faithful to the Faith of all times. Thus you decided to come back to the unique fold of our Lord Jesus Christ, even though this Church is herself currently shaken by a very severe crisis, by the "worship of man" established in place of the worship of God, a "banquet table" replacing the altar of sacrifice, "dialogue" replacing the sacrifice offered to God. I was told that in Sweden, one day, some Catholics asked for permission to borrow a Lutheran church to be able to celebrate the Mass, the "new Mass." In your Lutheran churches, you have an altar and a communion table; these Catholics, however, found the way to put a table to celebrate their Eucharist, instead of using the altar that still exists in Lutheran worship. There are things that we discover, dear faithful, that put to shame the Conciliar Church.

You approached therefore, dear Pastor, our Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre, especially for the perpetuation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, that is, of the sacrifice of the Cross, reproduced, reactualized on the altar in an unbloody manner, according to the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ to His Apostles: "Do this in memory of Me." And it is with this objective, if it please God, to be able to receive Catholic ordination one day, that you (as well as your associate) want to join the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, knowing full well the painful situation in which she finds herself in the Catholic Church. You want thus, dear Pastor (I regret calling you by this title because you are now Catholic), to join this fight for the Faith which is currently the main goal of our Priestly Society.

With the help of God and through the intercession of the most holy Virgin Mary, whom we implore today for you as well as for your associate, you are going to make the solemn abjuration of all heresy and the solemn profession of Catholic faith; and, if it please God, you will pursue your studies until you receive Catholic ordination in order to renew and to prolong the unique Sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on our altars. Amen.
 

The President of UNEC, Mr. Winfried Wuermeling, who is well acquainted with Pastor Sten Sandmark and who helped him on the road to Rome, provided these details about his conversion.

The Lutherans do not have religious orders, except in Sweden, following the example of the Anglo-Catholics of England. "The Swedish Church" was the established Church of State until 2000; then the Swedish parliament was constrained to allow the possibility of Lutherans founding congregations and for the king to convert.

In 1992, Pastor Sten Sandmark, still a Lutheran, founded the Order of Augustinians (Luther's order) with a few friends. He made the three perpetual vows. That is why he still wears his religious habit even after his reception into the Catholic Church. His companion, Brother Joachim Svensson, 19 years old, took temporary vows for a year in July, 2005. That is why he laid aside his religious habit the eve of his abjuration at Paris.

Because he speaks German well, Fr. Sten has gone to Zaitzkofen, Germany, for a year "for supplementary theological studies," and should be ordained priest in 2007, whereupon he will return as a missionary to Sweden. He began a 30-day Ignatian retreat on July 31, 2006 [Feast of St. Ignatius], to be preached by Fr. Franz Schmidberger at Zaitzkofen.

Joachim accompanied UNEC on a pilgrimage to Catholic Norway from August 5-14. In September he began two years of studies at St. Mary's College (the SSPX's university in St. Marys, Kansas), since he speaks English. He anticipates entering the SSPX seminary at Winona, Minnesota, in 2008. Later on, he plans to rejoin the Augustinians of Fr. Sten, God willing.

Pastor Sten told us that he became aware of the invalidity of his masses in September, 2005, due to the lack of apostolic succession. It was this that decided him to leave the Lutheran Church for good. In truth, he says, he always felt like "a Catholic in the Lutheran Church."

During his last Lutheran office [see "Last Sermon," p. 44], he told the whole truth to his congregation, and made a general call to conversion to the Catholic Church. Fr. King, an SSPX priest in England, attended this "mass," and after the "mass" was even able to speak from the pulpit to the congregation at Pastor Sten's invitation.

Pastor Sten thinks that about 30 of his flock are equally ready to convert, including six of the parish staff who resigned at the same time he submitted his own resignation. They await the return of Fr. Sten in 2007 before they formally convert.

Meanwhile, a mothers' group to help save the babies of Oskarshamn from abortion has begun meeting to "maintain the ties."

According to Fr. Sten, a real mission in Sweden awaits. Two hundred other Lutheran pastors belong to the "traditional" branch within the Swedish Lutheran Church (a little like the High Church in England), and they are all watching how Fr. Sten's path to the priesthood proceeds.

There are currently two Swedish SSPX seminarians (one at Econe, one at Zaitzkofen).
A permanent traditional Catholic mission to Sweden will soon begin, with God's help.   

Translated exclusively for Angelus Press from the Society's French District web site La Porte Latine (http://www.laportelatine.org/communication/presse/2006/ceremonieabjuration/pasteurstandmark/pasteursatndmark.php).

Fr. Lorans's Meeting with Sten Sandmark

On Saturday, July 29, the day before his abjuration at St. Nicolas du Chardonnet in Paris, I was able to meet with Pastor Sten Sandmark thanks to Mr. Winfried Wuermeling, the President of UNEC. We had to record an interview for Radio Silence [www.radio-silence.org]. Doctor Jung, who put together a thorough file for [the website] Donec Ponam, joined us.

Sten Sandmark is dressed in the black habit of the Augustinians, the order to which Martin Luther belonged. When I ask him how he discovered the traditional Catholic Mass, he tells me he waited for this moment for 40 years. In 2005, the pilgrims of UNEC, following the footsteps of St. Bridget of Sweden, asked permission for their chaplain to celebrate the Tridentine Mass in his church, which he granted. And there he saw the Mass he had seen celebrated by Catholic priests in Sweden before Vatican II when he was just ten years old. "Today," he says, "these Catholics only have a hideous Mass...no more Gregorian Chant, a liturgy in the vernacular, etc. For it must be said," he adds, "that the Lutheran service in Sweden has preserved much of the pre-conciliar Catholic rite." He then shows us photos of his church in Oskarshamn where the altar is still turned toward the cross and where the communion table still separates the choir from the nave. "But," he confesses, "We don't have apostolic succession, and my Mass was invalid: there was no transubstantiation. When I discovered this, I was shocked."

"At what moment did you realize your Mass was invalid?"

"After the UNEC pilgrimage, I received a visit from Fr. Schmidberger. We talked for two days and at the end I said to myself: I am nothing."

When he confided to the only Catholic bishop of Sweden his desire to convert, the bishop advised him to remain Lutheran while being "Catholic at heart." This was, according to him, a way to be a Catholic missionary in the midst of Lutheranism. As a means of spiritual support, he sent him a Christmas card!

As to the question of whether some of his congregation might join him and convert to Catholicism, Sten Sandmark responds that there will perhaps be some conversions. He advised them not to rush off to the conciliar Church and to stay in contact with the Society of St. Pius X.

I ask him if he wants to celebrate a Mass he knows is valid some day. He says that after 31 years in Lutheranism he would like to know that in his Mass there is truly the presence of Christ. But, abandoning himself to the designs of Providence, he adds: "If the bishop [one of the four bishops of the SSPX–Ed.] does not permit me to become a priest, I will submit."

I asked Sten Sandmark about the validity of confession. He tells me that this question is very important for him. For five years, he heard confessions in a psychiatric environment or in prisons, but his absolutions were invalid: he did not have the power to grant absolution. He heard confession like a psychiatrist hears his patients. He read many books to try to understand the life of these people, but he recognizes: "I did not absolve them."

Members of his family, particularly his mother, told Pastor Sandmark they were not surprised by his conversion, that they even expected it. I asked him, "Which saints prepared the way for your conversion by their example and writings?"

I read the revelations of St. Bridget, St. John of the Cross, Thomas à  Kempis, and St. Teresa of Avila. They have been my spiritual guides, but one day I discovered the Blessed Virgin Mary [Here the converted pastor takes a long pause, his eyes filled with tears]. We certainly have some beautiful statues of Mary in our churches in Sweden, but they are only statues. Now I've discovered her, herself, and I speak to her. I feel the intimate connection there is between the prayer of consecration of the Mass and the Blessed Virgin Mary. That's why I can no longer remain among the Lutherans who do not believe in it.

The next day, the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, after his abjuration and his profession of the Catholic Faith, Sten Sandmark received confirmation and made his first Communion. Monday morning, he took the train from the Gare de l'Est to go to Zaitzkofen, Germany. There, he will make the 30-day Exercises of St. Ignatius.

The interview with Fr. Lorans is taken from DICI, No.140; the news stories are re-printed with permission from UNEC, Nos.28/29 and 30/31 of RU, their news bulletin. Edited by Angelus Press.

The Pastor's Last Parish Sermon

The Reverend Sten Sandmark, pastor of the Lutheran parish of Oskarshamn, Sweden, celebrated his last Lutheran office on Sunday, July 16th, in order to finish the contract which bound him to the national Church of Sweden. This is the last sermon he addressed to his 300 practicing churchgoers (of a total of 12,000 members officially registered in the parish).

My dear Friends:
Why do I return to the Church of my ancestors from before 1517? There is only one God, who reveals Himself as a Trinity, the Father, the Son begotten of the Father, and the Holy Ghost who proceeds from the Father and the Son. The Son of God, sent by the Father, became incarnate and was made man to free us from sin and death through His sacrifice on the Cross.

He founded only one Church, and founded her on St. Peter (Mt. 16:16-19). She is His own institution for salvation and for continuing the Lord' work after His Resurrection and Ascension through the preaching of the Gospel, the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the administration of the seven sacraments, and the office received of shepherding the flock. "As my Father hath sent Me, even so I send you" (Jn. 20:21).

Because there is only one God, there is also only one Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way, there is also only one religion instituted by the Son of God Himself, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:27). Only St. Peter received the power to lead the flock (Jn. 21:15-17). He founded the local church in Rome, where he was to be martyred.
In the Roman pope we find the legitimate successor of St. Peter.

It is necessary to belong to this Church for salvation. "He that heareth you, heareth Me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me" (Lk. 10:16). In 1517 Martin Luther separated himself–to his own perdition–from this Church in doctrine, worship, and discipline. Many countries were separated from the Church through this unfortunate action. As a consequence, innumerable sects have been founded, all of which refer to Christ. In these sects there is no continuous line of apostolic succession in unity with the successor of St. Peter and Christ Himself. Not even the Swedish Church has any such apostolic succession. In order to see how far this [Swedish] Church today has departed from the order of things as they were given to us by Christ and the doctrines of the apostles, it suffices to mention the ordination of women and the blessing of homosexual couples.

After many long years of struggle and prayer, I have decided to leave this community so as to return to the Church which was founded by Christ Himself, the bride of the Lamb that was slain. The Church to which I return is herself presently afflicted by a severe crisis. Yet to her (and only to her) has Christ promised that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against her" (Mt. 16:18).

I promise to pray for all Christians, and I myself ask all of you to include me in your prayers. It is my hope that all of us shall return to the safety of Christ's flock and that we shall in the end find eternal salvation.

This prayer full of hope I address in a special way to our Lady, the Mother of the Incarnate God, who, in her immaculate and virginal state, is the prototype of the Church. St. Bridget, strong in the faith and united with the only Church of Rome, pray for your country and mine, Sweden.

"Veritas liberabit vos–the truth shall make you free" (Jn. 8:32).

http://www.laportelatine.org/communication/presse/2006/ceremonieabjuration/ceremonieabjuration.php