DECLARATION
to
Members of the Society of St. Pius X,
Affiliated Communities
&
Faithful of Tradition.
French:
http://www.lasapiniere.info/declaration-aux-membres-de-la-fraternite-st-pie-x/Holy Thursday, 28th March, 2013
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ the King,
On this day when the Holy Church solemnly commemorates the institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacrament of Holy Orders, I take this opportunity to inform you of my decision to place myself outside the official structure of the Society. My intention is neither to abandon nor to vilify it. The Society is victim of an enterprise that aims to bring it under the power of the Conciliar Church, despite repeated warnings of its founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
Following my sermons and interventions against a rallying, my district superior, Fr. Jürgen Wegner, transferred me from the Priory of Langley (near Vancouver) to District Headquarters (St-Césaire, near Montreal) with the expressed intention of "closely monitoring" me. He also said that I could no longer criticise the superiors. In his letter to Canadian priests regarding his decision, he attacked not only my public statements, but also my emails and private conversations with the faithful. It is clear that I was being offered to exchange the material welfare of remaining in the Society for my silence in public and in private. This would be no more no less than a form of spiritual prostitution. But I have a soul, and I want to save it. I cannot do that by accepting this deal because, as the saying goes: “silence is tantamount to consent.” This is basically why I see it as a moral obligation to refuse the transfer. This is the only way for me to continue to work towards achieving the true goal of the Society, which is not to convert modernist Rome, but to preserve and transmit the true Mass and the true priesthood. So I put myself in the hands of Providence, convinced that Our Lord will take good care of His priest.
Much has been written on the subject of a "purely practical" agreement with Rome. Suffice to say that I fully endorse the statements and studies by other colleagues who are opposed to this new orientation of the Society. I shan’t repeat them here. I would, however, like to share some personal reflections on the three aspects of the crisis of the Society:
1. Society authorities want to justify the abandonment of the resolution of the General Chapter of 2006 ("No practical agreement without conversion of Rome"), by saying that the situation is not the same today. They would have us believe that many new bishops, priests, and seminarians are no longer interested in Vatican II and prefer the traditional Mass and theology. Yet they are unable to produce a serious and independent study to demonstrate this. We are being asked no less than to accept what Archbishop Lefebvre termed "Operation ѕυιcιdє." The General Chapter of 2012, far from correcting this change of direction only wrapped it up in cosmetic "conditions". The only condition that mattered, the conversion of Rome, was abandoned. In addition, this chapter occasioned a reversal of the balance of strength between bishops: From the 7th April 2012 when we had on one side three bishops against a "practical" agreement and on the other, an isolated Bishop Fellay, we found ourselves on the 14th July, with three bishops in favor of such an agreement against an ostracised Bishop Williamson, who had moreover been excluded from the said Chapter. The final statement about the newfound unity actually signalled the end of a period of grace for all "resisters". Henceforth, from 15th July 2012, all opposition vis-à-vis a purely practical agreement, any criticism of the authorities of the Society on this subject, became a crime against the Society itself. A law of silence was instituted. The rest is history. This law of silence is so powerful that Menzingen doesn’t even bother to respond to the arguments and accusations; opponents are simply demonised as vulgar rebels of subversive deeds! Exit H.E. Bishop Williamson and a score of priests!
2. H.E. Bishop Fellay’s secret docuмents (14th April 2012 letter to the three other bishops, Preamble the following day), which were published unofficially, allowed us to understand the extent to which frequent relations with today’s Rome are dangerous. If even before the signing of an agreement such contacts have changed the Superior General, his assistants, and, by extension, other Superiors, what would happen to simple priests and faithful when they would be officially, legally, permanently under the control of the Roman authorities? One has only to see how Menzingen already persecutes those who oppose this new direction even while we still enjoy a degree of independence vis-à-vis Rome, to understand how far they will go once under the authority of the conciliar Church!
3. Recently, it was asked of us to accept the theory that the term "conciliar Church" does not mean a separate institution of the Catholic Church, but rather a "movement" within it (cf. Fr.Gleize in DICI:
http://www.dici.org/en/docuмents/can-one-speak-of-the-conciliar-church/). The logical consequence of this theory would be that the traditionalist movement should return to the formal structure of the Church, to fight from within the conciliar "movement" and thus help Tradition triumph. It is why we often hear SSPX authorities say that the Society must "help the Catholic Church to reclaim her Tradition." Now, on one hand, the Catholic Church, without her Tradition, could not exist, it would no longer be the Catholic Church. Furthermore, one can no longer speak of a mere "movement" when the liberal and Masonic ideas of Vatican II have been "institutionalised" by reforms covering all aspects of Church life: Liturgy, Catechism, Ritual, Bible, Ecclesiastical Tribunals, Higher Education, Magisterium and, above all, Canon Law. We are confronted with a structure, an institution which is different to the Catholic Church. If it weren’t the case, we would be members! But it is not us who have left the Catholic Church, they have, even if they managed to take control of the official structure. Concerning the role of the Pope in all this, it has to be admitted that therein lies a mystery, a mystery of iniquity. Nonetheless, it stands that we are in the presence of two separate institutions: The Catholic Church founded by Our Lord and the conciliar Church, instigated, let there be no doubt, by Lucifer.
These are just three small reflections, but I believe they can shed some light on some aspects of the debate. Now that I have become totally free to speak, you can count, dear brothers and sisters in Christ the King, on my regular contribution to the websites of the growing movement of opposition to the Ralliement, a movement that I believe deserves the name Catholic Resistance.
Pray for thy servant, as I pray for you.
Father Patrick Girouard, SSPX
Topic: Fr Girouard (Read 17812 times)