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CONSECRATIONS – HINDSIGHT

May 6, 2023
Number DCCCXXV (825)

We have no faith, like the Archbishop had –
We must pray for it, or else we all go mad!

There is an old English expression for trying to do two things at once which cannot be done at once – “To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.” Either one can run with the hunted or one can hunt the hunted, but one cannot do both things at once. Another expression for the same reality is, “You cannot have your cake, and eat it.” If you eat it, you will no longer have it. If you want to have it, you must not eat it. And yet another expression is, “You cannot have it both ways . . .” Either the women will have a career of their own, or they will have children of their own – or they will have only half of each: a career, spent longing for the children. In real life, we have to choose, and not “fall between two stools.”

In the Catholic Church of 1988 Archbishop Lefebvre was faced with an agonising choice:
as he put it, either “Operation Survival” to consecrate four of his priests as bishops to ensure that his Society of St Pius X could survive, to defend the fullness of the true Faith against a false Authority which was set, without precedent in all Church history, upon destroying that Faith. Or “Operation ѕυιcιdє,” by which he would leave his Society without its own bishops, ultimately at the mercy of the destroyers to do away with the true Faith, doctrine, Mass and priesthood, no less. Faced by the choice, he made no effort to do two opposite things at once. With no trace of compromise he chose to consecrate some bishops for Tradition, and the fruits of his choice were the survival, as we have seen, of the Catholic Faith, doctrine, Mass and priesthood. False Authority “excommunicated” him, of course, but he paid no attention. He knew that any such penalty was as null and void as its authors, so long as they were ruining the Faith.

Now when he made that decision, he was
very much on his own, with only one other bishop at his side for the ceremony of Consecrations, Bishop de Castro Mayer from Brazil. To their credit, easily most Society priests followed the Archbishop at that time, and were proud of it. The fruit of his choosing the Truth, standing by his choice and never in the least compromising until he died less than three years later, was that little by little for the next 20 years the Society enjoyed its most fruitful years of all, giving to all the Catholic world the living proof that Catholic Tradition was neither dead nor out of date. Little by little more and more Catholics have come to realise that they were duped by Vatican II and its master-villains.  Alas, about 20 years after the Consecrations, the leadership of the Society lost their grip on what had been the Archbishop’s motivation and achievement, namely the defence of the Faith being betrayed, and they have for another 15 years been looking for some official approval from
faithless Church officials, who are striving harder than ever to destroy the Faith, as by Pachamama paganism, or German-style “Synodality.”

But there is a trace of hope for the Society that it may get back to its Founder, the great Archbishop Lefebvre. Today, April 18, its Superior General, Fr David Pagliarani, held a worldwide electronic meeting of Society Superiors to tell them mainly two things. Firstly, they should begin to prepare their people in Priories or around Seminaries for news of the Consecration of new bishops within the Society. With or without the official approval of Rome? “That is the question.” If it is with Rome’s approval, then it is very likely to be some kind of trap. If it is without their approval, that is more of a good sign that the priests of the SSPX are recovering the faith of their Founder. And secondly, Fr Pagliarani said that a new Vatican docuмent on the Synodal project for the future of the Church declares that “the Church’s
hierarchical structures must be dismantled.” In other words, the structural structure of the Church must be dismantled, which is to undo the Church itself. And that was the purpose of Vatican II from the beginning, as clear minds like that of the Archbishop saw from the beginning.

Is his Society beginning to see more clearly? Or is it being duped once more? It is not yet clear. But for sure and certain, the great war between the friends and enemies of God continues, exactly the same down the ages. We must pray with fervour the Rosary, and we must love the Truth and tell it, come what may.

Kyrie eleison

I question this idea of "Operation Survival."  Here's why.  Two weeks ago, we drove 75 miles to attend Mass in Post Falls, ID at the St. Joan's Fraternity chapel.  It is a new facility, a beautiful brand new brick building, surrounded by quite a bit of property, on which the main sanctuary has yet to be built.  The church is filled with young couples. with plenty of children.  It offers only the Traditional Mass and Sacraments.  And, apparently, it's all been done without a dime of Jєω money or diocesan funding.

As we all know, FSSP derives all Episcopal authority from the local Diocesan bishop under the auspices of Rome.  They do not have their own bishops, nor, apparently do they need them in order to 'survive.'  So what's going on here?
St. Joan's appears to be every bit as healthy and prosperous a chapel as its traditional SSPX counterpart across town.  In fact, more so, I would say.  But ABL was under the impression in 1988 that Traditional Catholicism was on the path towards "Operation ѕυιcιdє," unless he appointed four bishops from his own ranks.  The break away FSSP has no such bishops for survival.  Yet they do quite well, it seems, under diocesan authority. 
Someone please explain the mystery to this old man.

Happy to:

The FSSP survived, but it’s traditional doctrine did not.

Lefebvre, unlike Fellay/Pagliarani and the FSSP, was unwilling to dissolve the tradition out of his SSPX.

Tradition only survives if it:

1) Remains independent of its Roman and diocesan enemies;

or

2) In small doses used as bait, so that tradition can be dissolved gradually by reintegration into the conciliar pantheon.

So consecrating bishops assured tradition would survive, doctrine and sacraments intact, for a time, until three of those bishops themselves rejected the wisdom of their founder.