Mixing Joys with Sorrows
In response to the turmoil which upset the Catholic landscape after the Vatican II Council, Archbishop Lefebvre officially founded in 1970 the Society of Saint Pius X in Fribourg, Switzerland. As soon as the Society’s work was consolidated in France and Europe, he envisioned extending the benefits of tradition to other continents. The first to draw his attention was North America, particularly the United States and Canada. The Archbishop, as a Holy Ghost Father and, later on, as the order’s superior, had been familiar with both. Canada had sent many religious brothers and nuns to run hospitals and schools of Senegal. The United States had a prominent presence of Holy Ghost communities which the Superior had to visit regularly. Added to these, Lady Kinnoull from Carmel in California had offered him large funds “to fight against the subversion in the Church. Her help provided much of the needs for the first years of the Society’s foundation.
The First Seminary and Hardships
The first seminary was created in Armada, MI, as early as 1974, with Fr. Anthony Ward as its rector. But soon, he butted heads with the headstrong Frs. Kelly, Sanborn, and Dolan. The Archbishop, grieved by the situation, thought it wise to take the side of the three priests, although he had been warned of their harsh tendency by Fr. Urban Snyder, a great priest and Cistercian monk from Gethsemani, KY, who taught at Écône from 1972 to 1976. The future would prove Fr. Snyder right, but the situation was delicate at the time. Also, the seminarians who had studied philosophy at Armada continued their theological training at Écône in 1978 with us. By 1979, Fr. Sanborn was put in charge of the American seminary and relocated to Ridgefield, CT, near New York City.
Forty years later, it is difficult for us to visualize the difficulties which these pioneer priests met as they put the hand at the plough. These were the “heroic” years when the few SSPX priests from the District would gather faithful in hotel rooms and, little by little, establish churches for the Mass of all times. In Canada, Fr. Normandin, an SSPX friend, was running the width of the country each month in the back of a Greyhound bus to administer to souls. In the U.S. also, priests were spreading themselves very thin in a time when they were few and sparse but the demands for the traditional Mass were coming from all corners. In 1978, Fr. Bolduc acquired the Jesuit College of Saint Mary’s, KS, which was graced by the Archbishop’s visit the next August 15 for the Marian Pilgrimage. He himself congratulated the workers in the field, giving them his blessing:
“It was a magnificent success. More than 2,000 people came from everywhere. I wish that this place become a great sanctuary for all America, and a center of devotion and prayers towards the Blessed Virgin, who alone is capable of stopping the moral corruption which does not cease to grow in this immense country.”
Fr. Hector Bolduc with Archbishop Lefebvre in 1981 at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Kansas City, MO.
Seminarians outside St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary, Ridgefield, CT [1986].
A Prudent Division
Very much aware of the tensions between the older priests, the Archbishop wisely divided the U.S. District into two: the North East District under Fr. Clarence Kelly, centered in Oyster Bay Cove near New York City, and the South West District under Fr. Bolduc, centered in Dickinson near Houston, TX. Each district had its own zone of apostolate and each ran its own magazine: Fr. Kelly had The Roman Catholic and Fr. Bolduc edited The Angelus magazine, which was printed by a Franciscan friend Fr. Pulvermacher. Fr. Bolduc also created Angelus Press whose first book was by the English writer and apologist Michael Davies. The North East District paced its apostolate according to its manpower. It also took advantage of the seminary staff for Sunday mission runs. Working on a more extended area, Fr. Bolduc had too few priests and was working around the clock with most “priories” manned by one lone priest. And so he took the bold decision to get outside help by bringing in priests from India who were familiar with the traditional Mass, a move that was criticized by the Archbishop as soon as he heard of this strange initiative.
As soon as he could spare a few new priests, our founder sent some solid reinforcements to the seminary as well as the districts. Fr. Richard Williamson was sent to second Fr. Sanborn, and Fr. De la Tour to take care of St. Mary’s Academy and College.
A Rupture Within the District
These reinforcements arrived just in time because the smoldering embers were ready to flare up again. Early in 1983, things came to a head in the North East district when the Archbishop came to ordain two priests. One of them refused his first assignment to the South West District, under the pretext that the district was using the 1962 Missal and Breviary which, in his mind, were not Catholic.
The final act took place in Oyster Bay Cove a few days later. The Archbishop was asked to accept conditions which would make the American priests virtually independent from his authority. Following his surprise and square refusal, the North American priests told him that all of the 13 properties purchased for the SSPX were still under their name and the Archbishop and his Society would lose everything in the North East District, including Ridgefield. The Ridgefield seminary, in these tense months, was virtually under siege and had to be protected with seminarians turned into sentinels with baseball bats stationed at strategic points.
I recall an occasion when Fr. Kelly and some men came to take control of an unfinished floor, which was to be the foundation of the future seminary rooms of Ridgefield. Fr. Williamson came out to let him know he was not welcome here, and as he turned his heels, Fr. Kelly mumbled to his friends, “Anyone have a gun?” Things were rather strained between the two groups (the SSPX and the newly formed Society of Saint Pius V), and it would take three years before they settled the property issues. An old friend of the Society and of the Archbishop, New Yorker Al Skidmore, deserves mention here in the lawsuit which vindicated the Archbishop.
Such were the circumstances of the split of “The Nine,” the catch name given by Fr. Williamson in a memorable letter from Ridgefield. To make things worse, the following year three of the four priests ordained defected from the SSPX in favor of the nine priests just weeks after their ordinations. That is when Fr. Schmidberger, newly elected superior, said that he was about to throw in the towel on America. And, thank God, he did not because the following years saw a resurgence of the work of tradition, faithful to the French Archbishop, headed by Fr. Laisney at the District and Fr. Williamson at the seminary and, later on, Fr. Angles at St. Mary’s, KS.
St. Vincent de Paul, Kansas City, MO.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Benedictine Monastery, Silver City, NM.
The Growth of Tradition in America
Fr. Laisney, from 1984 till 1990, spent himself with his zeal and endless energy across the country to build up the District, now reunited after the unfortunate defection of Fr. Bolduc from the Society. Fr. Laisney was an indefatigable writer for Angelus Press and The Angelus magazine, and corrected the harsh position of The Nine, including their sedevacantist tendency. Not only did he consolidate the undisturbed parishes of the South, he also made sure to protect his priests from over-activism and isolationism. He proudly gave the result of his achievements: the number of priests and faithful almost doubled in six years.
A distinctive sign that the tables had turned was the purchase of the former Dominican novitiate outside of Winona, MN, in 1987. The campaign for funds had been very successful, and, within two years of the purchase, much of the mortgage had been cleared, as well as the much needed repairs which were headed by Long Islander Pete Sardegna and his sons. The move in 1988 from the cramped quarters at Ridgefield (the U.S. seminary for nine years) to ample Winona was the obvious sign of a spiritual revival of tradition in line with the spirit of Archbishop Lefebvre. That was the year of the episcopal consecrations, and a newly consecrated rector, Bishop Williamson, settled in a building worthy of a bishop. Meanwhile, Ridgefield became a retreat center for much of the Midwest and the East Coast.
Years of Growth
By comparison with the troubled decade of the 1980s which finally saw the work of tradition being placed on a solid foundation, the 1990s were years of extraordinary growth under the leadership of Fr. Peter Scott (1990-2002). Shouldered by strong support from the seminary and St. Mary’s, seconded by a united clergy, he launched into a veritable real estate enterprise, buying magnificent churches in rundown cities in the hope of reviving them in Cincinnati, in St. Louis, in Kansas City (the District House, as well as the Franciscan convent), in Chicago, and in Atlanta. The U.S. seminary provided newly ordained priests who would be sent all over the world to all continents with a real missionary spirit.
There was also a resurgence of religious life with various congregations invited to the country. The traditional Carmelites had made a foundation in Phoenixville, PA, near Philadelphia, and soon relocated to Spokane, WA. Close to the Carmelites, the teaching Dominican sisters of Fanjeaux, France, built a graceful complex to run the Post Falls girls’ school in Idaho. The SSPX Sisters purchased an old hospital building to turn it into a novitiate in Browerville, MN. The Franciscan Sisters founded earlier on by Fr. Heidt, came from Oregon to set up their community in the magnificent Benedictine convent of the Perpetual Adoration in Kansas City, and Fr. Cyprian started building his monastery in Silver City, NM.
During Fr. Scott’s 12-year tenure, the Society extended its apostolate to pilgrimages (the most popular among them were Starkenburg in MO; Lyons, KS; Cataldo, ID; Auriesville, NY; and Chartres pilgrimage in France). Not least of these was the “pilgrimage” to Winona for ordinations, which became the yearly meeting of tradition where thousand of faithful from all over the country enjoyed meeting like-minded souls and build companionships.
The two decades beginning the new millennium may be called the time of consolidation and centralization. Fr. John Fullerton, District Superior from 2002 to 2008, used his talents to build the District House in Farley, MO, near Kansas City. He also purchased La Salette in Georgetown, IL, which was to become the first boys only boarding school of the Society and a greenhouse for vocations. Fr. Rostand headed the District for the next six years and centralized the District activities, directing his attention to thinkers and intellectuals: he expanded communications with a redesigned website and new branding in tandem with Fr. Jürgen Wegner of the Canadian District; produced videos promoting tradition; and launched the Angelus Press Conference in 2010, a highly successful event which reconvened with a different yearly theme. These were crucial years, especially in response to the infamous “Resistance” movement which rejected the authority of Bishop Bernard Fellay on the pretense that he was going to sign an “agreement” with Rome, thereby betraying the SSPX into the hands of neo-Modernism.
Starkenburg Pilgrimage.
The new District House in Platte City, MO.
The Work Continues
Fr. Jürgen Wegner came to the U.S. District in 2014 and headed a united and peaceful front. With German dedication and precision, he proceeded to further organize things. He directed a strong administration by extending the accounting department which oversaw over 100 chapels. He set up the “Plan to Protect” commission for the protection of minors, along with much work on expanding the Society branding all over the traditional Catholic world. He travelled extensively through the country to meet over 60 bishops so as to obtain the official recognition of marriages performed by SSPX clergy.
He also, with the cooperation of Fr. Rutledge and Br. Marcel, oversaw the plans for Mary’s new Immaculata church, presently under construction. It was during his tenure that Fr. Yves le Roux, who had been in charge of the Winona seminary since 2005, succeeded in building and moving the seminary to Dillwyn in 2015, in order to accommodate the numerous vocations knocking at his door.
No doubt, the saga of the 46 years of SSPX presence in the U.S. has been a mixed bag of joy and sorrow—Miscens gaudia fletibus—to borrow the words of the Vespers hymn of St. Joseph. True, the forecast of tradition looks optimistic. It may seem as if things are in perfect order for the stability and extension of Tradition now that Fr. Fullerton is again taking the reins of the U.S. District. No doubt, reality will not be as smooth and easy going as planned and COVID-19 may just be one such challenge that needs to be overcome.
Without a doubt, the real challenges will be spiritual. More than ever, souls and especially our faithful need to be reminded of the legacy left them by Archbishop Lefebvre: the Mass of all times, the integral catechism, the unveiling of the inner poison of some key Vatican II teachings. Along with this, his priests and elite members will have to deal with a new enemy: ignorance and sloth. We are far removed from the founders and fighters of the first hour who upheld the banner of tradition against the progressive agenda. Two generations later, there is a sense of comfort and the natural inertia saying “go with the flow” and “do not make waves.” Forty years ago, we used to say: “They have the churches, we have the faith,” but perhaps we need to wake up now that we have our beautiful temples, lest we lose the faith in our spiritual slumber.
Angelus Press Annual Conference.
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