September 2010 Print

Exclusive Angelus Press interview

Fr. Arnaud Rostand is the Superior of the U.S. District of the Society of Saint Pius X.

PART 1

Father, you were kind enough to grant an interview to The Angelus in the May 2009 issue. We would like to add some ideas and answers in this issue. First, what do you think of the development of the U. S. District?

On several occasions, I have expressed how impressed I am by the U.S. District of the Society of Saint Pius X. The families, the many children, the dedication of so many faithful, are but some aspects of its strength. The work that has been done over the years, especially around our priories and schools, but also in the missions, the Mass centers we serve only on Sundays, is tremendous. I see also a great unity among the priests of the District. These are just a few of the strong points of the Society of Saint Pius X throughout the world, but particularly in America.

Is that to say that everything is perfect, that we don’t have to do anything and let things go? Of course not, there is still much to do and improve.

The first aspect I wish to work on is the doctrinal formation of the faithful who trust in us. The crisis in the Church is a crisis of Faith, a decrease and corruption of the Catholic Doctrine, and the penetration of Liberal ideas into Catholic principles. They not only lessen or destroy the Catholic Faith, but also affect the whole of society. Each year we see more civil laws that contradict the Faith. Increasingly, the world we live in becomes more pagan, and this has an effect on everyone. We must protect ourselves from becoming Liberals! The means to achieve this is to study and deepen our knowledge of true Catholic Doctrine; and the most efficient way to do so is to read the books of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. I believe that this cannot be emphasized enough. Two books especially helpful to this end are Open Letter to Confused Catholics and They Have Uncrowned Him (Angelus Press). These, among others, are books that we should read and read again.

Let us not be complacent with what we have built over the years and risk falling into a certain mediocrity or lukewarmness. If we do not wish to fall, we must never forget that we are on a crusade, a battle of doctrine, based on doctrine. If we do not make the effort to understand this crusade–and this applies not only to the priests and religious, but also to you faithful–we will not be able to resist or to succeed in vanquishing the liberalization of our lives.

In order to strengthen the doctrinal aspect of this crusade, our first means is to develop our schools. The formation we are bound to give to the youth is crucial. And it is not only a moral formation, principles of personal life, it is first and foremost an intellectual formation, a doctrinal formation.

That is why our emphasis will focus on our schools; to improve them and to make sure the youth are given the principles that they need to lead a Catholic life, in order to resist a world that is attacking the Faith increasingly.

Some milestones have been reached in the relationship with Rome. What do you think are the most important ones?

The first reality that must be understood is the fact that the Catholic Church for decades, has been going through a dreadful crisis. It is a reality, and one which the authorities in the Church, in Rome as well as in the dioceses, must acknowledge.

The popes, from Paul VI to Benedict XVI, have recognized this fact. On June 29, 1972, Pope Paul VI stunned the world with the words: “From some fissure the smoke of Satan entered into the temple of God.” John Paul II spoke of a “silent apostasy.” Benedict XVI, or more exactly Cardinal Ratzinger has, particularly in his meditation of the way of the cross in 2005, expressed the same idea: “Your Church often seems like a boat about to sink, a boat taking in water on every side.”

Nevertheless, is it the common understanding throughout the Church? Certainly not. The bishops give the impression that they do not see any problem; they still boast as if there is a renewal, a new Pentecost in the Church since Vatican II: “All is well; there may be a few abuses here and there, but the Church is doing fine.” Even the statistics, showing a decrease in practice, in vocations, at every level, do not lead the authorities to open their eyes and admit the reality. They seem blind to the crisis. The Society of Saint Pius X does not make up this reality; it imparts itself to anyone who wants and accepts to face it.

So the first step is to remind and to convince people that there is a crisis, and that this crisis has dreadful consequences for the salvation of souls.

The second milestone to expose is the cause of this crisis. It is one thing to recognize a problem; it is another to understand where it comes from. As you know, the Society of Saint Pius X has always pointed out Vatican II as the source and cause of the crisis. The new doctrines introduced, or made official, as they already were in the background, even though they had been exposed and condemned by previous Popes, are not only novelties, but are against the traditional teaching of the Church. They are like a poison, perturbing and even killing, if it were possible, the Church from within.

To show the contradiction that exists between the teaching of Vatican II and the previous Magisterium of the Church is the key answer and the main objective to achieve. This is not an easy task; they are so sure, so convinced that the problem cannot be there.

What kind of argument do you think is the most impressive to Rome?

I would not be able to say what is the most impressive to Rome. The discussions remain private in order to ensure the necessary freedom for everyone to expose their arguments. So, I don’t know what they are most sensitive to. What I can see is that the bishops in general are using the same old basis to attack us, which is obedience. They don’t want to go to the real problems. They send us back the ball, saying “you must obey.” They say that Rome cannot be wrong, and therefore we must follow.

I had another confirmation of this recently: I visited a U.S. diocesan bishop. The agenda of the meeting was the possibility of the Society of Saint Pius X’s buying a church from this diocese, a church they had closed and had intended to sell. The reasoning of the bishop was “We cannot sell it to you because you are confusing people.” There is no objection to selling to Protestant denominations as it is clear that they are not Catholic, but to us, the Society of Saint Pius X, by stating that we are Catholics, we are bringing confusion to the Church, they say.

It is pretty bold to say that we are confusing people more than the Protestants! It is an easy argument based on the Pope’s letter to the bishops of 2009 in which the Pope explains that the Society of Saint Pius X does not have a legitimate apostolate: “As long as the Society does not have a canonical status in the Church, its ministers do not exercise legitimate ministries in the Church.” The bishop did not have any argument against the fact that it is an internal problem of the Catholic Church, but would still affirm that we bring more confusion than Protestants. Are we really doing more damage to souls than the anti-Catholic Protestant denominations? Are we confusing Catholic faithful more than certain so-called Catholic priests? It is difficult to believe that. The layperson who was with me and who is not a parishioner of the Society was not convinced by the bishop’s arguments. Anyway, they will continue to sell their churches to non-Catholics without any scruples and refuse to have anything to do with us.

We read every day about so many priests or bishops who directly disobey the Church or the Pope or their bishops in grave matters; they still exercise a “legitimate ministry.” A priest in New York City decided to participate in the Pride March, inviting people to join him so as to “represent a church that truly lives the Gospel.” On Sunday, April 11, while preaching a sermon a priest in Chicago stated that he believes “women ought to be able to be ordained, as well as priests ought to be able to get married.” The priest has been “temporarily” suspended (and it is not the first time), but he received the Office for Racial Justice’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his life of service by the Archdiocese of Chicago! We can assume that he will be back in some “legitimate” apostolate soon. Obedience to the teaching of the Church or to the authorities is applied at two different speeds…

The primacy of the Pope or obedience is not only misunderstood but also misused. In the discussion with the bishop, I could not get him to admit that obedience is subordinated to the Faith. He would agree that maybe Vatican II was not infallible but would still maintain that we must accept it, I would add, as if it was. “When there is approximate danger to the Faith, prelates must be rebuked,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas. This false notion of obedience unconnected with the teaching of the true Faith, might be the first thing to clarify, opening then true discussions on deeper and more important matters.

Do you think that the priests of the SSPX, especially those in the United States, are expecting too much from the famous “talks with Rome”?

As mentioned above, the priests of the U.S. District are very united. They love and trust the Society of Saint Pius X. They have confidence in their General Superior Bishop Fellay. Every priests’ meeting shows evidence of that harmony. The priests have confidence in the commission appointed by the Society and all those who know the members of the commission, Bishop de Galarreta, Fathers de Jorna, de la Roque, and Gleize, are even more secure, because of their sound doctrine and firmness of position. So I don’t think they are overly concerned about what is going on in Rome.

The outcome of these discussions is impossible to predict. At this point in time, we do not see a real change of direction within the Church, even though there are a few good signs. The direction is still favorable to new ecumenism, religious liberty, and other novelties of Vatican II.

In a conference given to the priests of the Fraternity of Saint Peter on July 2, 2010, Msgr. Guido Pozzo, secretary of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, made interesting comments on the interpretation of the Council:

It’s really hard to imagine a greater contrast existing between, on the one hand the official documents of Vatican II, the posterior Magisterium of the Popes, the interventions of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and on the other hand, so many ideas or ambiguous, doubtful statements, and often contrary to sound Catholic doctrine, which have multiplied in Catholic circles and the general public opinion.... 

The first factor at the origin of this contrast, he said, is “the renunciation of the anathema, namely the clear contraposition between orthodoxy and heresy....” The second factor “is the translation of Catholic thought into the categories of modernity....” And the third one “is the interpretation of the aggiornamento of Vatican II.”

There is here an interesting critique of the new ideology brought around or even since the beginning of the Council. Nevertheless, Msgr. Pozzo still believes that this ideology remains external to the Council itself.

Let me quote Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who already answered this thinking:

The same people wrote the acts of the Council and implemented them. They knew very well what they were doing. Consequently, these reforms are the authentic interpretation of the Council. And since these reforms have caused considerable turmoil in the Church, we can say that the origin of the destruction in the Church is to be found not only in the reforms but also in the Council. (Spiritual conference at Ecône February 22, 1979)

Are we going to convince Rome’s Msgr. Pozzo? Are we going to convince the Pope? We have to leave that in the hands of Our Lord and Our Lady. We do our “job,” we witness to the true Faith and we leave to God all the rest. We invite all souls of good will to pray for that intention.

Certain people are arguing against the SSPX, and especially Bishop Fellay, having a general fear of their “betraying Tradition.” What do you think about this?

We live in very confusing times. The deficiencies of the highest authorities of the Church have created a spirit of distrust; which is not good, but very understandable. Some of the faithful are therefore suspicious of a Society of Saint Pius X “betraying Tradition.” The usual argument is: we have been betrayed by the clergy in the past, so why not today. The Society should therefore not be talking with Rome.

First, to that objection or suspicion I would answer that it was not the position of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. As far and as long as he could, Monseigneur Lefebvre kept contacts with Rome. In 1989, so after the Consecrations, Archbishop Lefebvre stated that he would have signed an agreement with Rome if we had had the possibility of protecting ourselves against the Modernist Rome and the bishops (Fideliter 68, March 1989, pp. 7-8). So, even at that “hot” point, it was clear in his mind that if it were possible, if we were protected, he would have signed.

Now, when you read what Bishop Fellay says about the discussions with Rome, or Bishop de Galarreta, president of our commission, what do you see? Primarily, you read that these discussions are not at the level of a canonical recognition of the Society of Saint Pius X. They are doctrinal discussions about the errors of Vatican II. Secondly, the protection in Rome and from the bishops is repeatedly stated as most important in the actual situation. Without a strong safeguard, which we do not see as probable today, there is no agreement possible. This is perfectly in line with the positions and spirit of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

Now, if people tell me that it is dangerous, that they are trying to trap us… I say, of course it is dangerous. But then, it is not a question of principle; it is a question of prudence. Is it prudent to entertain “talks” with Rome? The one who has the graces and the authority to make this decision is no one but Bishop Fellay.

A large conference of the SSPX has been announced for October 2010. What is the goal and what do you expect from it?

The Society of Saint Pius X is organizing for the first time in the United States, a series of conferences, in October 2010. The 40th anniversary of the Society is the opportunity to conduct this gathering in honor of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The conferences will illustrate the life of our founder, his work and especially the transmission and defense of Tradition through the Society of Saint Pius X. It will be a celebration for 40 years of faithfulness of the Society to the direction bestowed by Archbishop Lefebvre to his successors. The presence of His Excellency Bishop Fellay, General Superior of the Society for the past 18 years, is a blessing for us and we rejoice to welcome him.

The idea behind these conferences is to make the positions of the Society more known to the faithful. It is a project that I had in mind for some time; to have public conferences for the faithful to explain our stance in today’s crisis. I believe we can never study enough the work of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. This will always help the faithful to more fully understand what we are doing. Sometimes, I am amazed by how little knowledge many have of the heritage we have received from our founder, especially among the youth, but not only. Many people are worried because they don’t know or understand where we stand. It is my hope that these conferences will help to clarify things.

My vision and my hope is that we will renew every year these types of conferences on various topics related to our times.

(To be continued.)