It's easy to lose sight of the big picture.

In South America and elsewhere, lots of things are "happening" in the Resistance.

A few things to point out:

1. With all due respect to Fr. Zendejas (and don't misunderstand, I'm completely rooting for him and his apostolate!), have any of his conferences brought in 243 faithful? I bring up Fr. Zendejas since he's one of the most successful and prominent priests in the United States Resistance. He goes all over the country. Besides passing the "entrance exam" of being sane and well-balanced, he is also a leader/go-getter who stays very active (arranging conferences, confirmations, retreats, etc.) If there's a priest who's not afraid to "think big", it's him.

Long story short, I'm not saying this to criticize Fr. Zendejas -- I'm just very impressed at the state of the Resistance in South America and elsewhere. Look at how many Resistance supporters there are, and look at how they respond! The Resistance seems to be in better condition there -- perhaps it's because the United States is so liberal to begin with?

2. Look at all the various venues -- and most of them don't look like hotel conference rooms. It seems like they have more "dedicated chapels" (even if humble) in places outside the U.S.

3. Note how they're building a priory in Ireland.

4. It should give us Americans hope that, one day, we will see this level of support for the Resistance, and this kind of "building up" here in our own country, thanks to the tireless efforts of the good priests we have here (and we do have some!) and the laymen who help them with their money and/or time.

5. It should also inspire us with gratitude to God, and gratitude towards our faithful priests for what we do have in this mostly liberal, mostly apathetic country of ours. How hard the faithful priests work, yet how poorly do the majority of Traditional Catholic Americans respond!

The pictures were taken from the "Non Possumus" Spanish-language blog.
http://nonpossumus-vcr.blogspot.com/

Having a bishop so close by really helps. Maybe it's time for another bishop, this time in the United States?

An observation:

The Resistance vs Neo-SSPX does seem to follow the "Rhine flows into the Tiber" pattern. That is, within the SSPX, its the English speaking, Portuguese Speaking, and Spanish speaking areas that were more opposed to the new direction direction of Menzingen and Bishop Fellay. Were as Fr. Pfluger tells us the Resistance doesn't work in German speaking areas and is less prevalent within the SSPX in the Rhine countries (Germany, Switzerland, France, Low countries, etc).

Come to think of it, the same was even true during the FSSP split in 1988.

Portuguese and Spaniards have a history of very tough fighters for the Faith.  There is some thread of culture and character latent in them that never gives up. St. Ignatius Loyola was Basque, a region north of both Portugal and Spain on the Iberian peninsula.  Christopher Columbus and St. Teresa of Avila come to mind.

Deo gratias (!) that Catholics abroad in other parts of the world are remaining faithful to Tradition and that priests there are also remaining true to their vocation of teaching, governing, sanctifying souls--as well as defending the Faith.

Praying to God that He will accept their prayers and sacrifices and turn the graces derived therefrom to us Catholics here in the United States, so that we learn from and follow the good example of our fellow Church Militant.

And one last note, if there is any lack of quantity or quality of truly Traditional Catholics in the U.S.A., let us blame ourselves, ask God's forgiveness, and help to do better--for indeed, with the example and zeal for souls of a priest such as Father Zendejas, there is no excuse for our lack of enthusiasm in clinging to the teachings, Faith, Mass, and sacraments of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church...unto the glory of God and the salvation of many souls.

I would like to think that if +Williamson appoints a bishop for North America, that he not be of foreign extraction, and that he not have had a background or training in the SSPX.  I would like to see a new bishop whose English we clearly understand, and whose roots are not necessarily in the sspx apostolate.

I would like to think that if +Williamson appoints a bishop for North America, that he not be of foreign extraction, and that he not have had a background or training in the SSPX.  I would like to see a new bishop whose English we clearly understand, and whose roots are not necessarily in the sspx apostolate.

I disagree.

1. I will be happy for whatever bishop God arranges for us here in the USA.

2. So-called "foreign" priests can be a huge blessing, when they are from Catholic countries like Mexico, Spain, or Poland. Also, you can't beat the understanding and resistance of a priest from a Communist or ex-Communist country like Poland, Vietnam, etc. I don't think many Americans appreciate just how many (liberal) things we take for granted, having grown up in the US of A. Liberalism, secularism, and other errors are in the air we breathe, and it's impossible to not be affected by it. Anyone born and raised in the United States who claims to be 0% liberal is not a very deep thinker, and is objectively incorrect. We don't even know what we're missing in many cases, but some "old world" priests do.

3. It seems like there's an inverse relationship between how easy something is to understand, and what its content is worth! The Tridentine Mass is in Latin and requires a 2nd language (Latin) or a hand-missal to understand. The Douay-Rheims (the most faithful English translation) is archaic and strangely-worded at times. Many good priests with awesome content in their sermons also have thick accents. And so forth. Meanwhile, Hollywood movies are clear as a bell to understand -- but complete trash.

4. Not have a background or training in the SSPX? Why? The SSPX offered the best Traditional priestly training in the whole world, drawing on the deep wisdom and experience of Archbishop Lefebvre.

The only criticism one could offer is that the level of learning offered in the SSPX seminaries was objectively rudimentary or poor, compared with priestly training in the 1800's. For example, seminarians used to all learn Greek and Latin thoroughly,  while the smart students would go on to learn Hebrew and other ancient languages which would help with advanced Scripture study. But that deficiency has nothing to do with Archbishop Lefebvre and his SSPX, and everything to do with the post-television age we live in. In general, mankind is DE-volving into a lower form of human life, despite what the materialist, evolutionist world would claim. Just read any book written in 1880 or earlier; look at the average sentence complexity and length. Also look at the average sentence length of the Presidential Inauguration Address from George Washington to the present day. (HINT: It's only gone one direction: down).

I would like to think that if +Williamson appoints a bishop for North America, that he not be of foreign extraction, and that he not have had a background or training in the SSPX.  I would like to see a new bishop whose English we clearly understand, and whose roots are not necessarily in the sspx apostolate.

If I didn't know better, I'd say you're making up a general rule to fit your personal preference or "vote" for who should be bishop.

But let's be honest. Is Fr. Voigt a good Traditional priest because of his post-Vatican II Salesian training, or despite that training and because of his own correspondence with God's grace? Let's be honest: where are all the other Salesians ordained 10 years before and 10 years after him? Are any of them faithfully maintaining and teaching the Catholic Faith with no novelties, Modernism, or compromise? Or is it just Fr. Voigt?

I'm not aware of any others. There certainly aren't any others in the Resistance, and that isn't a good sign. At the very least we can say that they are quite rare. So shouldn't we blame the post-1970 Salesian training as a whole? Is it not true that ALL the good religious orders were contaminated by Vatican II as its spirit was implemented in the 1970's? If the training of the post-1970 Salesians were objectively good, there would be more than one "success story".

Fr. Voigt has done a good job fighting the good fight for Tradition, serving Our Lord and Our Lady, trying his best to help souls, and bringing the best of St. John Bosco's Salesian way to the Traditional Catholic world.

But today he's also doing the same thing Archbishop Lefebvre did while he was alive (and the same thing the SSPX did before its fall): keeping the Catholic Faith whole and entire, passing it on to another generation, with no compromises and no distractions (like Sedevacantism).

Looking at the overall group of faithful Traditional Catholic priests today, I'd have to conclude that the SSPX training in the 1970's, 80's, and 90's had many more success stories.