October 2007 Print

^{Fr. Christian Bouchacourt}

Fr. Christian Bouchacourt, District Superior of South America, is interviewed by Iesus Christus, the magazine of the
South American District of the SSPX.

On July 7, the Motu Proprio announced so long ago was finally released, granting the liberty to celebrate the traditional Mass to all priests. How do you feel about the publication of this document?

We can but rejoice to see that the Tridentine Mass has at last regained its rights in today's Church. However, in itself, the document was not necessary. As the Motu Proprio clearly says: "this liturgy was never abrogated" (Art. 1). Thus the SSPX was right to continue, though all hell was let loose, to celebrate this rite, using the 1962 Missal. But as, in fact, from 1969 until today, Church authorities acted as if the rite of the traditional Mass had been abrogated and very often censured the priests who wanted to celebrate it, it is a very good thing that this liberty be officially recognized.

I would like to stress that this progress is a posthumous victory of Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer, who were banished from the Church on account of their fidelity to this centuries-old rite. Without these two bishops, the Mass of St. Pius V would have disappeared from the face of the earth. We must, however, regret the restriction which authorizes the celebration of only one Tridentine Mass per parish on Sundays and holy days (Art. 5, §2).

Is there not another restriction imposed for the celebration of Mass during the last three days of Holy Week in Article 2?

No, in the traditional rite, on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, no priest can celebrate Mass in private. The priests who attend the chanted offices receive communion from the celebrant. In this, the Motu Proprio is in the line of the liturgical Tradition. The document does not forbid the use the 1962 Missal for the public celebrations of these three days of Holy Week.

Over these past months, have priests in your district approached the SSPX in order to learn how to say the traditional Mass?

Yes, almost everywhere in South America priests are asking us to help them learn how to say the Mass. It must be noted that all these priests do so secretly out of fear of their bishop. I hope that thanks to the Motu Proprio they will be able to celebrate without fear and in all freedom, as the document prescribes. Then it will be a great grace for them and for the Church.

Are the priests obliged to come to your priories to learn how to celebrate the Mass of Saint Pius V, or do you have other kinds of help to offer?

It is obvious that direct contact with the priests would be the easiest way to help them learn how to celebrate the Mass of St. Pius V. But it is also quite obvious that this is impossible for many of them because of distance and the demands of their apostolate. That is why the French District of the SSPX had the excellent idea of producing a DVD to help those priests [as was being done in the US District–Ed.]. It is available in several languages, including Spanish and Portuguese. We offer it to priests and seminarians in South America for a very low price. We added to it a second CD with photos and a commentary about every gesture the priest must perform to celebrate correctly. I think it will prove a very useful tool for all our fellow priests who are interested in the traditional Mass.

In his letter to the priests and faithful, Bishop Fellay expressed the satisfaction of the SSPX to see the rights of the Mass of St. Pius V recognized. Can we, for all that, say that the crisis which has been shaking the Church for decades is being resolved?

As I said, this decision is a very positive step forward. We are happy to note that not only is the traditional Missal allowed but also the Breviary and the Ritual for the Sacraments according to the 1962 edition. This will procure enormous good to souls. Yet there is still a long way to go before we reach the end of this crisis, which has wrought so much havoc in the Church for 50 years. Indeed, as the Pope emphasized in his letter to the bishops, our combat is rooted much more deeply than in the mere restoration of the Mass of St. Pius V. It has doctrinal roots. If the Mass has regained its rights of citizenship in the Church, integral Tradition must also regain the same rights.

Doctrine nourishes and supports prayer and the liturgy. In 1969, the Tridentine Mass was changed because it was considered incompatible with the new conciliar theology. The gap, which has increased with the years, still remains after the restoration of the Mass. Together with the rehabilitation of the Tridentine rite, there must also be a return to doctrine in conformity with this rite. Lex orandi, lex credendi.

Could you expand on this thought?

Yes; we must bear in mind that at the time of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), all the bishops of the Latin Rite were still celebrating the Mass which we call "of St. Pius V." The reform, as we know, occurred in November, 1969. Yet, in great majority, these same bishops voted the texts which have been poisoning the Church from within: the texts on religious liberty, collegiality, ecumenism.

In the near future, these texts will have to be studied in the light of the centuries-old teaching of the Church. It must, indeed, be acknowledged that these texts and the reforms accompanying them caused a real rupture with what the Church had been teaching for almost 2,000 years.

We often read in the media that the SSPX wants the restoration of the Latin Mass. With the Motu Proprio its wish is fulfilled!

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, last May, on the occasion of the meeting of the CELAM [Latin American Episcopal Conference], said before all the bishops of Latin America that the use of the 1962 Missal was a "wealth linked to the no less precious one of the current Liturgy of the Church." He would like this Motu Proprio to be the occasion of conciliating the conciliar Church with Tradition. According to him, the times we are now living would be but a continuity of the living Tradition. This is wrong!

For 50 years the Church has been seeking to be reconciled with the spirit of the world. This is "an adulterous union" which produced bastard offspring. Archbishop Lefebvre already denounced this at the time. The Church is not of the world. Christ said this to His apostles just before His Agony in the Garden of Olives. Throughout history, the world has never ceased to fight against Christ and His Church. It is not only an illusion but an error to want to reconcile them. The world must convert to Christ, and not the Church to the world. With the new Mass, the new sacraments, the new catechism, the new Code of Canon Law, we have seen the churches and the seminaries emptying, and sects proliferate. In Latin America, every day 6,000 to 8,000 Catholics leave the Church. It is dramatic. Such are the bitter fruits brought about by the Council and its false principles, its revolutionary doctrine, and its reforms.

The true renewal of the Church will come not only through liturgical restoration but also through rehabilitation of traditional doctrine in the Church. While keeping its own place, the SSPX is ready to offer her help in such a restoration. Our attachment to the traditional Mass is not a matter of sentiment but of doctrine. It is based on the teaching of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, of the Popes and of the Saints. The Church did not begin some 50 years ago with the Second Vatican Council. She has 2,000 years of Tradition behind her. Her roots plunge deep, and we cannot ignore them.

Is it not somewhat of a utopia to desire all this?

The world is always in a hurry and wants immediate results. God has all eternity before Him. He took thousands of years to prepare the chosen people to welcome the Incarnate Word. Likewise, after leaving Egypt, the Jewish people wandered for 40 years in the desert before reaching the Promised Land. Only the sons of those who had fled from Pharaoh entered it. All the others died, Moses included! God may have the same plan to put an end to this crisis, which seems to drag on forever. Maybe He wants all those who took part in the last Council and its reforms to depart from this world first. Then the passions can calm down and the necessary reflection can take place. We must pray and do penance to hasten these days of renewal.

So we must be patient. Do you hope for the withdrawal of the excommunications which affect the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre and Bishop de Castro Mayer in the near future?

We have never recognized the validity of these "excommunications." When consecrating bishops in 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre did not want to set up a parallel Church as, for instance, the bishops of the Patriotic Church of China did in 1949. Our founder waited until he was 83 to perform this act, because he could not find any bishop to ordain his seminarians, give the sacraments and teach the perennial doctrine of the Church. As he said himself, it was meant for "the survival of Tradition."

History proved he was right.

So requesting the withdrawal of the decree of excommunication is a matter of filial honor. We want our founder and the four bishops he consecrated in order to safeguard the Catholic priesthood, the Mass, and Tradition, to be cleared from this infamous condemnation–which, though it is null and void, is used by many bishops as a scarecrow to persuade the faithful not to frequent our chapels and priories.

Without such a gesture, it will be hard for us to trust the good intentions of Rome towards us. Let us hope this gesture will follow the present Motu Proprio. Next, as our Superior General has said, we could begin "theological discussions."

So you entertain the hope that, one day, the situation will go back to normal between the SSPX and Rome?

Catholic hope, which is based on God and His help, is what remains in the soul of the baptized when there is no more room for human hope. We must be inspired with a very great hope, because the Catholic Church is divine in her origin and in the assistance that Christ, her founder, promised her until the end of time. This return to a normal situation will take time, maybe a very long time. It does not matter. The SSPX does not labor for her own sake, but for the sake of the Catholic Church. On the day when Tradition is restored in all its rights, the problem of the SSPX will no longer exist. That time will come; it is certain. But God alone knows when it will be.

And by way of conclusion?

I invite all those who will read these lines to take advantage of the ray of hope brought by the Motu Proprio, to read the encyclicals of the popes who lived before the Second Vatican Council, such as, for instance, the Encyclical Pascendi Domini Gregis written by Pope St. Pius X exactly 100 years ago. In this document, as in the others, you will find the answers to all the errors which fill the Church, and the reasons for the return to Tradition which the SSPX has been requesting for more than 35 years.

May Our Lady of Fatima, of whose apparitions we are celebrating the 90th anniversary, sustain the efforts of the Holy Father, and help him to make the decisions necessary to hasten the triumph of her Immaculate Heart. As Bishop Fellay wrote in his letter to the faithful and priests, the Rosary Crusade launched after the General Chapter by the SSPX for the liberalization of the traditional Mass obviously moved the Heart of the Blessed Virgin to grant us the Motu Proprio. May this strengthen our zeal to pray our daily rosary in order to obtain now the complete restoration of Tradition in the Church. The request of the Blessed Virgin Mary during her apparition in Pontmain, France, in 1870 comes to my mind: "Only pray, my children, in a short time my Son allows Himself to be moved."

 

Fr. Bouchacourt was ordained for the Society at Econe in 1986. After several assignments in France, including a long tour at St. Nicholas du Chardonnet in Paris, he was appointed District Superior of South America in 2003. Reprinted from Christendom, No.12, July-August 2007. Christendom is a publication of DICI, the press bureau of the Society of Saint Pius X (www.dici.org).