Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: SeanJohnson on March 19, 2023, 09:18:44 AM
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It was announced at Mass this morning that Fr. Christopher Darby (SSPX) died suddenly of a heart attack yesterday.
Born September 13, 1958, he was ordained a priest in Winona by +de Mallerais in 2000.
His ordination and vocation story was mentioned in the seminary Verbum newsletter (Summer - 2000):
https://stas.org/sites/sspx/files/v078_sum2000.pdf
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May Father Darby, Rest In Peace
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That’s sad to hear. :pray: Around 20 years ago I went on retreat in Ridgefield and Father Darby was there, he was a wonderful priest. I told him I held the sedevacantist position and he said that he was going to play an audio recording the next day showing how Archbishop Lefebvre was supportive of that position. While listening to the tape, I wrote down the source from which the recording was made. It was from the July 1986 Angelus. When I got home I ordered every copy that was in the Angelus archive. I promptly posted it on John Lane’s Bellarmine forum.
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Ah, he was only 10 years older than I am, so about 64/65. But he was ordained 5 years after I would have been ... had I stayed there. He was 42 at his ordination in 2000.
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That’s sad to hear. :pray: Around 20 years ago I went on retreat in Ridgefield and Father Darby was there, he was a wonderful priest. I told him I held the sedevacantist position and he said that he was going to play an audio recording the next day showing how Archbishop Lefebvre was supportive of that position. While listening to the tape, I wrote down the source from which the recording was made. It was from the July 1986 Angelus. When I got home I ordered every copy that was in the Angelus archive. I promptly posted it on John Lane’s Bellarmine forum.
Very intereting. Most SSPX priests would try to dissuade you from SVism. Sounds like he may have been a closet SV or leaned SV himself. Yes, in 1986, leading up to Assisi, Archbishop Lefebvre contemplated the idea of going publicly sedevacantist (based on his own words).
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I seldom get emotional about any topic posted on CI. But this is the exception. Fr. Darby's passing really upset me. Father was the only priest stationed in Post Falls at the time, for whom my wife and I had any real affection or respect. He was an honest, forthright priest, not afraid to enter where that special corps of sspx angels feared to tread. We always hoped to see him again, but such will not happen.
Of course, Fellay & Co. yanked him early, and sent him where his salubrious influence upon the faithful might prove less threatening.
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It was announced at Mass this morning that Fr. Christopher Darby (SSPX) died suddenly of a heart attack yesterday.
Born September 13, 1958, he was ordained a priest in Winona by +de Mallerais in 2000.
His ordination and vocation story was mentioned in the seminary Verbum newsletter (Summer - 2000):
https://stas.org/sites/sspx/files/v078_sum2000.pdf
:pray:
Where did you find that file? I can't access any shorter versions of that address (the sites, sspx, or files page)
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I seldom get emotional about any topic posted on CI. But this is the exception. Fr. Darby's passing really upset me. Father was the only priest stationed in Post Falls at the time, for whom my wife and I had any real affection or respect. He was an honest, forthright priest, not afraid to enter where that special corps of sspx angels feared to tread. We always hoped to see him again, but such will not happen.
Of course, Fellay & Co. yanked him early, and sent him where his salubrious influence upon the faithful might prove less threatening.
Where did +Fellay send him? I’ve noticed that some of the best priests of the SSPX by far have been relegated to relative obscurity, whereas the mediocre are in charge of everything. I’ve seen some priests who should be strong candidates for District Superior reporting to priests fresh out of seminary. Seems as if being a company yes-man is the only qualification necessary.
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I seldom get emotional about any topic posted on CI. But this is the exception. Fr. Darby's passing really upset me. Father was the only priest stationed in Post Falls at the time, for whom my wife and I had any real affection or respect. He was an honest, forthright priest, not afraid to enter where that special corps of sspx angels feared to tread. We always hoped to see him again, but such will not happen.
Of course, Fellay & Co. yanked him early, and sent him where his salubrious influence upon the faithful might prove less threatening.
Although not SSPX, how you feel for this priest sounds like how I feel about Fr Joseph Collins.
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I seldom get emotional about any topic posted on CI. But this is the exception. Fr. Darby's passing really upset me. Father was the only priest stationed in Post Falls at the time, for whom my wife and I had any real affection or respect. He was an honest, forthright priest, not afraid to enter where that special corps of sspx angels feared to tread. We always hoped to see him again, but such will not happen.
Of course, Fellay & Co. yanked him early, and sent him where his salubrious influence upon the faithful might prove less threatening.
Thank you for the memory jog...I recognized the name but couldn't put my finger on him. I remember his sister from Post Falls as well.
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I’ve noticed that some of the best priests of the SSPX by far have been relegated to relative obscurity, whereas the mediocre are in charge of everything.
Has that not been a pattern for decades? But maybe it's just my profound anti-Fellay prejudice showing through. IMO, mediocrity began to overtake the entire organization at ABL's death. It only gained momentum at the dismissal of +W. Since 2012 mediocrity and compromise have attained mock speed.
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Although not SSPX, how you feel for this priest sounds like how I feel about Fr Joseph Collins.
Yes, he actually reminded me of Father Collins.
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Wow, this is shocking news indeed. Fr. Darby and I were same class at St. Thomas Aquinas, Class of 1994; out of ten originals, two were ordained. Fr. Gagnon showed up the year of Metaphysics. Fr Darby will be missed. I never kept in contact with him when I left seminary. I always enjoyed walking and conversing with Fr. Darby.
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Where did +Fellay send him? I’ve noticed that some of the best priests of the SSPX by far have been relegated to relative obscurity, whereas the mediocre are in charge of everything. I’ve seen some priests who should be strong candidates for District Superior reporting to priests fresh out of seminary. Seems as if being a company yes-man is the only qualification necessary.
I think he's been somewhere around Kansas city for a while, most likely under Fr Goldade.
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Where did +Fellay send him? I’ve noticed that some of the best priests of the SSPX by far have been relegated to relative obscurity, whereas the mediocre are in charge of everything. I’ve seen some priests who should be strong candidates for District Superior reporting to priests fresh out of seminary. Seems as if being a company yes-man is the only qualification necessary.
At some point also, the chapels in Minnesota. There are families at St. Robert's in St. Cloud that have been there since the beginning, and Fr. Darby was the priest there for a while. I found out about his death there first.
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Father Christopher Darby Passes Away
MARCH 21, 2023
SOURCE: DISTRICT OF THE USA
(https://sspx.org/sites/sspx/files/styles/dici_image_full_width/public/media/usa-district/new-news/father-christopher-darby.jpg?itok=3lR_iCzI)
The U.S. District of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is deeply saddened to announce the unexpected passing of Fr. Christopher Darby, who died of a heart attack on Friday, March 17.
Father had served as a priest for over twenty years and, providentially, gone to confession the night before. He received conditional Extreme Unction when it was discovered that he had collapsed. Father was known for his devotion to Our Lady and, by all appearances, was saying the rosary just before he died. We commend his soul to your prayers and share a brief biography and funeral information below.
From the Verbum of summer, 2000:
"Fr. Christopher Darby has been ordained to the holy Priesthood, responding to a vocation that was born in the daily Latin Mass of his childhood. He was born on September 13, 1958, in a little town called Stayton, Oregon. Although his mother was not Catholic when he was born, she soon came into the Church through the influence of his paternal grandmother. When he was nine, his family moved to Portland, Oregon, and wound up in the most liberal parish in the city. Soon after, his parents lost the Faith and went on ‘a religious odyssey,’ going from church to church, winding up in a so-called ‘Bible church.’ Although he did not resist, young Christopher did not like their ‘worship services.’ After the death of his mother in 1982, Fr. Darby became very close to his grandmother and went to Mass with her frequently. Remembering the old Canon in English from the beginning of the liturgical revolution, he was appalled by the changes in the Mass prayers. He took an instant dislike to the new liturgy but resolved to return to the Church. He found in the “New Church” many of the same Protestant things he had wanted to leave behind, and he was “barely holding on” to the Faith.
One day, he came across an edition of The Wanderer, and he discovered that there were other Catholics who agreed that there were problems in the Church. Eventually, after becoming acquainted with Fr. Eugene Heidt, a friend of the Society in Oregon, he made his first Ignatian retreat in 1993. There, he felt a renewed desire to test a possible vocation to the Priesthood. Although he was concerned about his age, he applied to the Seminary and was accepted for the Fall class of 1994. He considers that the key to his preparation was learning to practice mental prayer faithfully.
Father Darby's first assignment was at St. Ignatius Retreat House in Ridgefield, CT, from where he took care of St. Jude's Church in Philadelphia, PA. He served in subsequent assignments in Post Falls, ID; Browerville, MN, where he served for a time as prior and cared for the Sisters of the SSPX at the Sacred Heart Novitiate; Chicago, IL; and, since 2020, as assistant pastor at St. Vincent's in Kansas City, MO.
Please join the priests and religious of the Society in praying for Father’s soul. May God quickly receive His good and faithful servant into the halls of Heaven. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.
(https://sspx.org/sites/sspx/files/styles/dici_image_full_width/public/media/usa-district/new-news/fr-christopher-darby-sspx.jpg?itok=PvTnSDw1)Fr. Darby at his Ordination in June, 2000
Visitation and Funeral Information
St. Vincent de Paul Church
Kansas City, MO
Wednesday, March 22
6:30 PM:
- Reception of the body
- Sung Vespers of the Dead
- Rosary
- Viewing
Thursday, March 23
9:30 AM:
- Rosary
10:00 AM:
- Solemn Requiem Mass
Burial will follow in St. Mary’s, Kansas at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery.
sspx.org - 03/21/2023
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I will try and see if there is a link for a livestream of the Requiem Mass tomorrow.
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Someone from the Society emailed me rather quickly and updated the website. There is a link to watch the Mass tomorrow.
https://sspx.org/en/news-events/news/father-christopher-darby-passes-away-81060