April 2007 Print

What is the current challenge for "Ecclesia Dei"?

We take care of those who did not want to follow Archbishop Lefebvre, which, strictly speaking, is not a schism. With jurisdiction in the name of the Pope, we have created institutes in France and in Germany, and we have incardinated the clergy who have returned. We must follow up on the lives of those clergy and of those communities, such as the Fraternity of St. Peter.

What about those who "follow Lefebvre"?

There are the associations of St. Pius X, for their reinsertion process, with permanent visits and correspondence requesting the old rite. There are 500 priests and 600,000 faithful and the numbers are rising, with monasteries and seminaries, some of them full.

Today's rite of Mass brings the faithful together around the altar, adapting to their cultural circumstances and language. Will the rite of Saint Pius V, with the priest turning his back to the people and prayed in Latin, come back?

Christ's great love is the Eucharist; it is not fair for this to divide us. The Mass of Saint Pius V was celebrated for more than a thousand years. It has never been forbidden. Even if one does not understand the words, it is not as if one understands much more when "This is My Body" is said and you see a piece of bread; only faith makes us believe in Christ there present. The Holy Father will extend the permission for this celebration, which is not in opposition to the one of today.

Is this not a step backwards?

I celebrate it nowadays, and in the first part, during which I give a sermon, I am looking at the faithful, who are my brethren, and whom I must instruct; afterwards, I represent the faithful: let us now go towards God. This is the objective: to give glory to God, and we are all united. It is not a step backwards; it is the preservation of one treasure without opposing it to another.

In order to make the Mass attractive for the youth of today's visual culture, there have been initiatives such as the "disco Mass," and dances of erotic origin have been seen in Africa. Is the traditional Mass a solution to stop these abuses?

It is a component, not "the solution." The new liturgy has not been "the solution." Did our churches used to be fuller or emptier? They are desolated! It is true that this is not the sole cause, but the Mass has turned into one of many rites of the world, and to strike something sacred is a grave matter. The spirit of "sacrifice" has been forgotten. The Eucharist leads to the resurrection, but not without passing through the passion and death. It is a celebration of the spirit, for our redemption. The most important thing for Jesus was not for us to eat with Him, but to eat Him.

Please share with us the satisfactions, frustrations, and hope of your work.

Satisfactions? To have met so many priests, individually and in groups; to celebrate the Eucharist on a ship on Lake Tiberias with 1,500 priests, and on a Maundy Thursday with 7,000 priests at St. Peter's Square. Frustrations? To not have been able to reach more priests, and to not have been able to help resolve some great problems which needed more time. Hope? To continue working in order to embrace the 500 priests of Lefebvre in the unity of faith and love which Christ demanded of us.

 

Commentary by the Editor of Panorama Catolica Internacional

This interview was conducted by the Rev. Victor Ricardo Moreno Holguin for the diocesan newspaper El Catolicismo, of Bogota, Colombia. It is reprinted with permission from PCI (please see below), and translated by Mrs. Cristina Bolton exclusively for Angelus Press.

The interview, which is not a major piece of journalism, has its difficulties. Let us clarify a few substantial mistakes: Cardinal Castrillon has been the President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission for several years [since April 2000]. It is true that he recently retired from the Congregation for the Clergy, where he was prefect also for several years.

It cannot be stressed enough that this is a new public affirmation that the consecration of bishops in 1988 did not constitute "strictly speaking a schism," and now, countless are the number of times that top-level authorities of the Catholic Church have affirmed what those attached to Tradition have always held.

Tradition is experiencing growth everywhere: Cardinal Castrillon attributes "600,000 faithful to be under the pastoral care of the Society of Saint Pius X." There are other, larger estimates. In Paris alone, some 10,000 faithful attend Mass at SSPX chapels every Sunday. Furthermore, if we consider other movements, in line or not with the Society of Saint Pius X, the number of faithful attached to the traditional rite grows noticeably. It is far from being a group of nostalgic cenacles.

Full seminaries: This is a phenomenon which is almost universal in traditional movements and also in the more conservative movements, even though they may not be of the traditional Mass. The element or component which keeps Catholics in its practice, which fosters vocations, preserves good customs, etc., is the Catholic identity with its history. These phenomena take place where Catholicism is most like it used to be. There where the clergy and the faithful move away from what used to be and what is essentially proper to Catholicism, everything disintegrates; the Faith itself, good customs, the practice of the sacraments are all lost. The Church triumphs where it shows what it is like. At least we can conclude that the conciliar pastoral strategy has been a failure.

Cardinal Hoyos himself admits that the new liturgy has not been "the solution." Our churches used to be fuller. They have struck what is sacred, the sacrificial spirit of the Mass. In other words, the collapse has a direct cause, which is the liturgical reform, which is motivated by another previous, more serious cause, as has been admitted by the French bishops and the Belgian, Cardinal Danneels: it is another theology. Can there be two true Catholic theologies?

All things considered, in this short interview, the President of Ecclesia Dei recognizes the main complaints of traditional Catholics directly and indirectly: the liturgical collapse, the apostolic failure, the faithful's loss of faith. It cannot help but be encouraging.

 

 

PCI (Panorama Catolica Internacional) is the Spanish-language sister publication of Kirchliche Umschau, a German newspaper friendly to Catholic Tradition.